OFF THE WIRE
Vanda Carson
smh.com.au
IT WAS no ordinary Christmas party, and one that Kings Cross nightclub owner Lili Chel now regrets hosting at her club, The Rouge.
The risque celebration involving strippers, dildos, whips and on-stage sex was in breach of her liquor licence and the council's development consent, Ms Chel has admitted.
Ms Chel was giving evidence in the Land and Environment Court this month, where she is fighting the council's attempts to close her club at 3am.
Advertisement: Story continues below The Rouge, the cavernous basement club on The Strip of Darlinghurst Road, is one of 29 Kings Cross nightclubs targeted by police as part of the crackdown on bikie gangs.
The window from 3am to 6am is one of the most lucrative for the club, as tipsy patrons order more pricey drinks.
The council has alleged The Rouge should not be allowed to trade beyond 3am because of a ''freeze'' on trading hours of all clubs and bars in Kings Cross.
The court was told there were 68 examples of ''problems'' with the club, including drink spiking.
The club has had 13 violent altercations detailed over a two-year period, police have alleged.
Ms Chel, 52, who is is married to Scott Orrock, the former national president of the Nomads Motorcycle Club, argues problems with patrons have been isolated and the club has been well run since she bought it in 2003. She says the council does not have the legal power to cut its hours.
As part of the case, the court heard that Ms Chel, from Eastwood in Sydney's north-west, was in breach of her liquor licence and the council's development consent when she hosted a daytime private party on November 20 last year for a group of construction workers as ''a favour for a friend'' who owned the construction company.
Ms Chel initially insisted there was ''no sex on stage'' at her club that day, but under further cross-examination she conceded there had been.
Counsel for Sydney City Council, Ian Hemmings, read from a police report that stated closed-circuit television footage of the party showed ''a male patron's trousers were lowered and his buttocks were exposed … the stripper whipped him numerous times with a black-coloured whip … a male patron penetrated the female with a dildo''.
''Would you call that audience participation if the male was to remove that [dildo] with his teeth, would that be audience participation?'' Mr Hemmings asked. ''Yes,'' Ms Chel replied.
The private party was only discovered after police were called to break up a fight outside the club.
The commissioners hearing the case visited the nightclub this month for a site tour as part of the case. They have adjourned the case to consider their decision.
http://www.smh.com.au/nsw/christmas-party-like-no-other-20101225-197fq.html
