A jury has been told that gardaí who were suspicious of activities in a Dublin city centre laneway discovered what was described as "a well-organised and well-run commercial brothel operation".
Prosecuting counsel Fergal Foley told the Dublin Circuit Criminal Court jury that neither customers nor "the working girls" had any complaints of exploitation in the operation.
A woman who worked as a prostitute in the apartment told Mr Foley she paid €130 every Sunday night to a woman described by counsel as "the consort" of the man accused of owning the brothel.
Martin Morgan (44), Blackstock Road, London and formerly of Herbert Road, Blanchardstown Dublin, has pleaded not guilty to three charges alleging he ran a brothel operation.
He denies he organised prostitution, that he acted or assisted in the management of a brothel and that he allowed an apartment at Bachelors Walk to be used for prostitution on dates from August 22nd to October 10th, 2005.
Mr Foley told the jury that a woman named Deena Edridge, who was also known as "Chloe Taylor", and was a consort of the accused man, had pleaded guilty previously to allowing the apartment to be used as a brothel.
Mr Foley said the State contended that Edridge was the on-site manager of the brothel for the accused. Both had been seen in nearby Lott's Lane by a Garda surveillance team who became suspicious of their activities and they were also recorded on CCTV footage.
A woman called "Vanessa" told Mr Foley she started working on "the nightshift" in the apartment on September 25th, 2005. She said the clients were charged €120 per 30 minutes and €220 for an hour for full sex. She said she would have perhaps five clients per night and every Sunday night she paid €130 to "Chloe".
"Vanessa" said she earned €1,400 up to October 8th, 2005 and gave half of this amount to "Chloe". She said she paid a fee of €15 to "Chloe" if she worked the dayshift and €25 for working nights.
Six men who visited the brothel on dates in August 2005 told Mr Foley they found the apartment by ringing a phone number and a woman at the other end of the line directed them to it. Two of the witnesses confirmed they found the number in Buy and Sell magazine, listed under an advertisement for a massage parlour.
Some of the witnesses said that a "short, blonde girl wearing glasses" answered the door and they had the impression she ran the brothel. The men explained how they chose one from several "foreign" girls in a room of the apartment and paid money for sex. Five of them paid €130 for half an hour of full sex and one man said he paid €40 for oral sex.
The men agreed with defence counsel, Michael O'Higgins SC with Seán Gillane BL, in cross-examination, that plainclothes gardaí approached them on leaving the apartment and asked them to make a statement in the back of an unmarked Garda car.
They agreed with defence counsel that the gardaí assured them they were "not in trouble" and that they hadn't committed an offence.
When Mr Gillane put it to some of the men that perhaps the gardaí had not been clear that they might be called to give evidence following the statement, they replied that they weren't certain but they understood at the time they might be called to give evidence at a trial.
Several of the men also agreed that gardaí later showed them CCTV footage of them entering the apartment.
The hearing continues tomorrow before Judge Frank O'Donnell and a jury of eight women and four men.