A District Court judge yesterday refused to renew licences for a Dublin lapdancing club after he accepted Garda evidence that they saw a naked performer being groped by a customer.
Judge Michael Connellan rejected claims by the Barclay Club, South William Street, Dublin, that the customer had simply put up his hand to prevent the dancer from falling after she was startled by the arrival of gardaí on inspection duty.
An appeal is to be lodged and the club can remain open pending it.
Dublin District Court heard how English financial services worker Mr Paul Greenhalgh (24) was seen caressing dancer Ms Lauren Langley's breasts, buttocks and genital area when gardaí walked into an upstairs room of the club.
Mr Greenhalgh insisted he had not touched the woman but only put up his hand to support her "in an instinctive action" when she nearly fell because she was startled by the gardaí.
General manager Mr Gerry Harrington, who accompanied the gardaí on their inspection, said he saw no such incident and was "aghast" when asked if he was running a brothel. He claimed the customer would "need to have been an octopus" to do what the gardaí suggested.
Gardaí objected to the renewal of the club's dance and music licences on the basis of the fitness of the character of the licence holders, Pineton Inns Ltd.
Insp John Quirke said in a room called the Clarendon Suite, he saw three couples, comprising three male customers and three exotic dancers. One woman was putting her clothes back on, another was topless and dancing in front of a man sitting on a chair.
The court heard Ms Langley was not available to give evidence as she had almost had a nervous breakdown as a result of the allegations against her. A security man on duty outside the door of the room was also not available as he was on holidays while efforts by the club to identify the names of the other two dancers in the room had proven unsuccessful.
Club operations manager Mr Jonathan Leonard said he chose all the dancers through a system of receiving photos of them from agents. He then requested their "age, size and specs" before interviewing them in an upstairs room of the club. The club did not have any Irish girls and it was policy to accept only foreign girls as most customers wanted the fantasy of seeing exotic dancers from abroad. Before employing them and each night before they danced, the "no touching" policy was explained.
Mr Leonard said there had never been an incident where a customer got carried away as a dancer performed.
Asked by Mr Michael O'Higgins BL, for the gardaí, if he thought it was possible a "warm- blooded male with a lot of drink on board" watching a scantily clad woman dancing on top of him with soft music and lighting could get carried away, Mr Leonard replied: "Not really. The type of customer we have would be extremely well mannered and would not step out of line".
Mr Bill Holohan, solicitor for the club, said if there was any suggestion of illegal activity the gardaí would have mounted overt or covert operations on the premises. "We are talking about at best an isolated incident".
Judge Connellan said he was satisfied that two experienced gardaí had observed an illegal act of a sexual nature. He did not accept the evidence of Mr Greenhalgh, who admitted having 10 pints of beer before going to the club and who was unsure in his evidence.
He also found the evidence of Mr Harrington hard to credit as he was "in complete denial" about what happened.
It was clear to him a sexual act which was illegal was taking place and that there was not adequate supervision of what went on in the room.
He added he did not know what lapdancing was about but it was clearly not something that could come within the definition of what was known as public dancing. He therefore refused to renew both the music and the dance licences.
The court heard the Barclay Club also has a theatre licence from the Revenue Commissioners.