Attorney Wayne Munroe, representing staff of the Butterfly Club in East Bay Street defending six Russian strippers in court, argued that prostitution and topless dancing are not illegal in the Bahamas.
After his submission, magistrate Renee McKay acquitted the Russian strippers, their Russian manager Igor, and six staff members.
Prosecuting officer Sgt. Donald Lotmore had pressed charges of indecent behaviour and abetting indecent behaviour against the group after police raided the club above Kenny Rogers Restaurant.
The women were found stripping down to their panties, pole dancing, and giving lap dances to a decoy, Corporal Bertree Ingraham, who visited the club on June 24 around 9:30pm.
Mr. Munroe submitted that if prostitution is not a crime in the Bahamas, and it is considered a worst possible scenario, “what could be wrong with looking at some breasts?”
The club is owned by Clyde Ferguson, who runs Bahamas Cabaret Ltd., a company with an official cabaret licence.
He reminded the court that both Britannia Towers and Crystal Palace Casinos featured topless dancers at their cabaret shows.
In continuing to analyse what he called “the standard” in the Bahamas, Mr. Munroe talked about the sailaway events, where girls get naked; wet T-shirt competitions at Long Wharf during spring break; and the topless beach at Club Med.
“Have you ever busted a sailaway, where girls get bald naked, or have you ever reprimanded any of the police officers who are paid to provide security for those events?” asked Mr. Munroe, as he crossexamined ASP Theophilus Cunningham, who said “No”.
Mr. Munroe also pointed out that the girls were conducting their affairs in the privacy of the club, away from public eyesight, in what he considered an appropriate place for that behaviour.
He said customers there were “getting what they paid for”, and that no-one was insulted or offended by what they were seeing until the police came.
He looked at the law as it pertains to indecent behaviour, noting that the behaviour must be insulting or offensive to those in view.
Even Corporal Ingraham, he said, admitted that “to a point” his lap dance was pleasurable.
The Bible, said Mr. Munroe, gives explicit detail in the Songs of Solomon about the shape and form of a woman, and the act of sex, and he asked if what the Bible described is indecent.
“Everything has a place, and Butterflies is not a church,” said Mr. Munroe.
With regard to prostitution, he said only public solicitation is illegal, and prostitution is not practised at the club.
ASP Cunningham said the nipples should be covered in cabaret shows. But Mr. Munroe called it “discrimination”, because a man has the right to show his nipples.
Sgt 1397 Brennen was also called to the stand to testify. During his cross-examination of Sgt Brennen, Mr. Munroe asked if he was aware that one could go home and watch people having sex on Cable Bahamas, once they paid for the show.
Therefore, he asked why patrons of the Butterfly Club could not pay to attend their show if Cable Bahamas is not being prosecuted for having explicit channels available for viewing at a price.
Magistrate McKay agreed with Mr. Munroe that the prosecution had not established a prima facie case against his clients, on the charge of indecent behaviour.
The prosecution conceded, leaving the strippers to continue their business within the confines of the club.
Source: A Felicity Ingraham, The Tribune
