By Roy Sanford, Staff ReporterWESTERN BUREAU:
THE TRIAL of Marie Young, the woman accused of breaches of the Foreign National Employment Act, stemming from allegations that she brought a group of male strippers to 'work' in Jamaica, is set to begin in the Montego Bay Resident Magistrate's Court on November 20.
It is alleged that Young, who is known in the second city as a 'promoter', brought four men to the island to 'work' at the Pleasure Dome, a nightclub in Ironshore, Montego Bay. It is reported that when the men arrived in the island, they told immigration police that they were going to stay at one of the Hedonism properties and they were warned that they were not allowed to work, since they did not have work permits.
Court documents showed that on May 19, the immigration police carried out an operation, during which plainclothes female officers visited the Pleasure Dome. They reportedly saw the men, dressed in thongs, dancing on stage and among the crowd and doing other 'lewd acts.' They also saw persons in the crowd placing money in the waistbands of the men's thongs. The police later swooped in and arrested Young and the men.
The four men were subsequently admonished and discharged by Resident Magistrate for St. James, Evon Brown, after the Crown failed to prove that they were working at the time of their arrest. However, Young was charged for aiding and abetting foreign nationals without a work permit. She pleaded not guilty to the charge when she appeared in court on May 20.
On Wednesday, the prosecution led by Clerk of Court, Sharon Barnes, informed the court that the matter was ready to be tried and a date for trial should be set. She said the witnesses were all ready and could all be contacted should a trial date be set.
Attorney-at-law George Thomas, who is representing Young, agreed that the witnesses could be contacted easily. "We have six female witnesses from immigration who went to see the men dancing," he said. "As a matter of fact the whole of immigration went there (to the club) that night. I don't know for what, but they went," she said.
The first witness is expected to testify on November 20. The hearing started on Wednesday.
