A former Napier brothel owner has been fined $1000 for liquor offences involving clients drinking instead of having sex.Former Fallen Angels massage parlour owner Vaughan Peter Bowkett was fined $1000 in Napier District Court yesterday for 10 liquor law breaches. Bowkett, who has left the brothel industry, apologised to police and the court. Judge Tony Adeane fined him $1000 "across the board" for the law breach, along with $130 court costs.
The former brothel manager ended up in court after police found the massage parlour's clients drinking instead of having sex. Police said the Napier premises had become a late-night drinking spot.
Police prosecutor Graeme Webster said Bowkett knew about the breaches but continued to abuse the rules, stopping only when police served a search warrant.
Bowkett told the court he accepted his actions were wrong but the alcohol sales had represented less than 20 per cent of the business's turnover.
Police took the premises to the Liquor Licensing Authority in November, concerned that its 24-hour licence was being abused and that the bar was becoming its primary service. The brothel was caught operating as a bar after 3am several times when other Napier bars were shut. When the parlour's licence came up for renewal, police agreed only to a liquor licence till 3am.
Defying the new licence rules, the brothel continued to operate under the terms of the previous licence. Police again found clients drinking in the bar at 4am, prompting the liquor and manager's licence to be taken away.
Outside court yesterday, Bowkett said the issue had come down to a matter of principal and a "grey area" in liquor laws. Girls were always working at the brothel during its opening hours and when the bar was open, he said. "As long as we had girls working we could run the bar – the grey area was the bar was run as a secondary business to the primary business.
"It was not for monetary gain."
It had been the police and court's decision that the bar was a primary business over the massage parlour, he said. "You are looking at no difference to pokie machines running in a bar.
"It was the police and court's opinion."
Napier had a market for massage parlours with six businesses running but he had decided to now get out of the business. "It's like anything – it is dictated by the market. It is certainly a lot cleaner (brothels in regions). You are not getting drug use and gang influences."