El Capitan adult entertainment centre in Sucker Garden. (File photo)
PHILIPSBURG–The Court of First Instance on Wednesday sentenced a 33-year-old man to a prison sentence of one year for assault and a fight with exotic dancers inside an adult entertainment centre.
The incident of May 22, 2018, at approximately 1:00am at El Capitan in Sucker Garden, originated in a conflict between a visitor and an exotic dancer working at the club, which ended in a struggle. Several female workers at the club who tried to intervene were dealt blows.
Some of these women filed reports against the defendant. The most far-reaching complaint against him was that he had touched the dancer’s private parts roughly and without her permission. The incident was filmed by video-surveillance cameras.
During the October 2 court hearing, the Prosecutor said she considered rape, attempted assault and mistreatment proven and called for a prison sentence of 36 months.
Defendant Martin Richard who resides in St. Barths denied he had intimately touched the woman’s privates. He confessed to having behaved badly in the club, but denied the allegations as he said the dancer had blocked her private parts with her hands.
According to the dancer, he had complained about her lack of services after he had given her 25 euros while she was dancing naked in the club’s bar area. He then grabbed the woman and tried to touch her. A struggle ensued when the woman tried to escape the suspect’s grip.
The club’s security and other customers at the establishment did not intervene, but several of the woman’s colleagues did come to her rescue.
As the camera images left room for doubt concerning the question whether the defendant had actually touched the dancer’s genitalia, the Court did not find rape proven. The defendant was, however, found guilty of illicit sexual acts.
Sexual assault carries a maximum prison sentence of 12 years, assault with a weapon merits a maximum penalty of six years and mistreatment is punished by a maximum of four years.
According to the Court, the video images show that exotic dancers are poorly protected at the club in question, “at least not by security [personnel – Ed.] or by visitors present,” it was stated in the verdict.
Only her colleagues had come to the exotic dancer’s rescue, for which they received several punches from the suspect in return. “This makes it clear that the ladies form a vulnerable group in this adult entertainment club,” the Judge stated.
Because the Court weighed the facts and circumstances of this case differently from the Prosecutor’s Office, it imposed a lesser sentence. The suspect’s lawyer Shaira Bommel had called for her client’s acquittal.
Source: The Daily Herald https://www.thedailyherald.sx/islands/91774-man-convicted-of-assault-fight-with-exotic-dancers
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