A pack of baby wipes was torn open in court on Sunday to reveal €800 in cash made from prostitution.
Police Inspector Joseph Busuttil opened the pack before Magistrate Charmaine Galea as three women were accused of living off prostitution. He went through the wipes to find one of them that hid the rolled up wad of banknotes.
The pack of baby wipes was lifted from Silver Moon Massage, a massage parlour in Hamrun, and belonged to 56-year-old Santana Juanita. The inspector said it had been seized on Sunday morning and he had had no time to go through it.
Ms Juanita and two other women, 28-year-old Dilenia de la Cruz Flores and 24-year-old Melissa Contreras Ramirez, were accused of prostitution and using three locations to offer their services. They pleaded guilty.
The three massage parlours, Matson massage in Luqa, Silver Moon massage in Hamrun and Erot massage in St Paul’s bay, were licensed under the name of Carmel Schembri, who used to pay VAT and issue clients’ receipts under his name.
Mr Schembri, who was arraigned separately before the same magistrate, pleaded guilty to making money off prostitution. The three women used to give 15 per cent of the money they made to Mr Schembri, sources said.
Defence lawyer Arthur Azzopardi and Inspector Busuttil both noted that the women were not treated badly, adding that this was not a case of human trafficking.
Ms Ramirez had come to Malta three times to work with Mr Schembri because she liked her employer, the inspector said. He said that €990 belong to Ms Ramirez had also been seized.
The three women, from the Dominican Republic, looked nervous as they huddled around their Spanish-speaking translator.
With no knowledge of either Maltese or English, they pleaded to have their phones returned to them, after the court heard how each of them had two phones - one to make contact with clients and one for personal use.
However, Inspector Busuttil refused to return the phones, saying the ones for personal use were used to make contact with Mr Schembri before coming to Malta. He conceded to giving them back their SIM cards, saying all data had been extracted.
“This is a direct consequence of their crime,” the magistrate said.
All three women were sentenced to 14 months imprisonment suspended for four years. The cash was seized.
Mr Schembri was also sentenced to 14 months imprisonment suspended for two years, but was also ordered to pay a fine of €1,500.
Martha Mifsud acted as legal aid for the three women.