A BRITISH dancer died abroad after taking a cocktail of drugs at a strip club which had a staff culture of boozing.
Stacey Tierney, 29, was found dead at Dream’s Gentlemen’s Club in Melbourne, Australia, just days before Christmas back in 2016.
She was confirmed to have died from a cocktail of drugs which include ecstasy, cocaine and heroin while in a private lounge.
Her body had been left for 31 hours after spending the evening in a private room with two men and dying from the overdose.
And owner Salvatore Aparo has been defending his bar after the exotic dancer’s tragic death as there is an inquest into his suitability to hold a liquor licence.
A Victorian Gambling and Casino Control Commission inquiry was told there was a culture of staff drinking at the club on their days off.
Aparo said: “We did not have a rule about upper management not being able to come in on their night off.”
He also informed the inquiry that he let managers run the club while he concentrated on another business, reports the Herald Sun.
But Aparo has now claimed that although he was a “hands-off” manager at the time but is now a hand-on owner who runs the club with his fiance.
He was running a construction business and delegated the running of Dreams Gentlemen’s Club to others, while he visited a few times a week.
Aparo added that Stacey’s tragic death had damaged the business’ reputation and he said that while he accepted “a lot of responsibility”, it could only go so far.
When the owner was asked if he put his trust in the wrong people he said “we all learn by our mistakes”.
He denied the club operated after hours and outside its licensing hours, adding that he ran “a very respectable business”.
Mr Aparo was questioned about the manager’s lounge where Ms Tierney was found dead.
He said it was his private room when he attended the club. The hearing heard that managers had access to it and 24-hour access to the club.
Stacey’s mother had previously spoke of her heartbreak when hearing how her daughter had lay there dead for more than a day.
She said: “They didn’t phone for an ambulance. She was a good person. I feel there’s been an injustice somewhere.
“Why would you watch somebody die?”
The Gambling and Casino Control Commission will do an onsite inspection at the club next week and deliver its finding on the liquor license in June.
