An American woman set up a brothel in Dublin in what she told a court yesterday was "a get rich quick scheme gone wrong".
Tonja Marshall (33), Camden Street, Dublin, said she was "just a degenerate" but hoped in the next couple of years to be a productive member of society by giving people Tarot card readings rather than sexual services.
She pleaded guilty to keeping a brothel at Camden Street between October 11th and November 5th last and was fined €500.
Dublin District Court heard gardaí raided the brothel on November 5th following a surveillance operation. They found three women working there and two naked male clients.
Det Sgt Mark Kavanagh said the brothel was advertised on the Internet under a number of names. During the search, gardaí found six mobile phones whose numbers matched those given on the website for the brothel.
Marshall had a male partner in the operation who left the country following the raid along with the majority of funds from the brothel. A shower used in the premises had leaked and caused the collapse of a ceiling of a kitchen in a lower floor. Marshall had discharged a €7,600 debt due to the landlady over this.
In the end, it did not prove a very rewarding enterprise for Marshall, who has lived here for six years.
Asked by Judge James McNulty why she got involved, she replied: "It was basically a get rich quick scheme gone wrong.
"Going through life will take you to some strange places. At the moment I'm just a degenerate but hopefully in the next couple of years I will be a productive member of society." She was taking Tarot reading classes which would "hopefully be more profitable".
Judge McNulty suggested to her that while she was correct to seek an alternative way of life, perhaps she was being "a bit hard" by calling herself a degenerate.
"We all make mistakes", he said.
He gave her a month to pay the €500 fine and ordered her to sign a bond to be of good behaviour for the next two years.
Thanking him, Marshall said: "You are a wonderful judge. I wish you would come to America, we need more like you".