Magistrate Miriam Hayman lectured the police over the evolution of morals in society after she acquitted three men who run a gentleman’s club and a security guard from charges of prostituting four Romanian lap dancers.

The four men, Frank Cachia, 37 from Msida, Michael Ciappara, 71, from Cospicua, his son Mario, 36, from Qawra and Anthony Azzopardi, 28, from Hamrun, were arrested after the Police Vice Squad raided a club in Bugibba. The club was furnished with poles and sofas with other rooms reserved for private shows. On the night the police found the scantily clad girls performing lap dances.

The girls, Gabriela Chiriac, Nicoleta Spadaru, Elena Petronela Dascalu and Gabriela Stingaciu testified in court that they were paid e11.65 per lap dance, e23.29 per topless dancing, and e34.94 per striptease. They explained that such dances were performed privately in separate rooms.

Police Inspector Sharon Tanti told the court that the girls were tending to their clients and no underage people were found in the club. The inspector confirmed that the Vice Squad decided that what was taking place at Maximus was immoral.

Magistrate Hayman said that morals change in society. Prostitution was legal and morally accepted in antiquity while it is immoral yet still legal today, as it is loitering that is illegal.

She also explained that “our grandmothers used to wear bed sheets as underwear”, ankles were not to be shown in public and full length bathing suits were in use.

Nowadays, skimpily dressed people are the norm in Malta’s beaches. This means, said the magistrate, that what was frowned upon in the past has become accepted as the norm, not from everyone, and is also on show in shops.

Magistrate Hayman said she was relieved from the fact no minors were found in the establishment and that the women were not forced to work as lap dancers. Furthermore, she said, on giving testimony they gave the impression that they were willing to do so and that their shows were exposed only to people willing to attend, contrary to advertising material or clothing habits on the beach which are forced upon everyone.

The court fined security guard Anthony Azzopardi e1,182 for working without a permit, fined Frank Cachia and Mario Ciappara e5,000 each for employing people illegally and acquitted Michael Ciappara.

Inspector Tanti prosecuted while lawyers Kris Busietta and Edward Gatt represented Frank Cachia, Michael Ciappara and Mario Ciappara and lawyers Manuel Mallia and Arthur Azzopardi appeared for Anthony Azzopardi.