knowingly exhibiting an indecent performance in a public place.

Senior Magistrate the Wor. Will Francis -- who earlier ruled that a Father's Day show held last year at the club on Front Street was indecent -- decided against imposing the maximum $500 fine after hearing from both Crown and defence counsels.

Citing the recent Luscious Lollipops case in which two long-serving prison officers were also found guilty of knowingly putting on a steamy Father's Day show featuring female strippers who performed lewd acts, Crown Counsel Mr.

Stephen Harrison noted that one prison officer was fined $500 and the other $400.

He said Magistrate the Wor. John Judge ruled that one of the officers was more involved in organising the show than the other.

But, he said: "I would submit that there is no meaningful difference between the two defendants in this case''.

Mr. Jeffrey Elkinson, representing Scandal owners Inter-Rest Management Ltd.

and manager Al Eastmond, argued that there was a "meaningful distinction between the nature of offence'' committed in both cases.

"There was never a complainant,'' Mr. Elkinson said, referring to the Scandal show which featured nude American dancers and three local dancers who stripped down to G-strings and pasties which just covered the breast nipples.

"The nature of the show at the Prison Officers Club was vastly different from what happened at Scandal,'' he said, adding that witnesses testified that the show was orderly, and the offence only came to light because Immigration officials suspected that the foreign dancers were working without permission.

Mr. Elkinson asked Mr. Francis to indicate the disparity between the two unrelated Fathers' Day shows by the amount of the fines.

After the sentencing, Eastmond maintained that he did nothing wrong.

"I thought I should have been found not guilty,'' he said, adding that he would not appeal the sentence.