Heartless response of strip club owner’s family after British dancer Stacey Tierney was found dead 12 hours after ‘partying with mystery men’
THE sister of the owner of a Melbourne strip club where a British lapdancer was found dead has callously asked how we know she "didn't just overdose?"
Stacey Tierney, 29, was discovered in a room in Dreams Gentleman’s Club in Melbourne 12 hours after a what appeared to be a private party with men at the venue.
She had been with a mystery group who had access to the building on a day when it is normally closed.
Melbourne’s Crime Investigation Unit investigators have spoken to Stacey’s family and sources confirmed the city’s Homicide Squad is now probing the tragedy.
Now the owner's sister, Antoinette Aparo, has claimed the girls who work at strip clubs "get high on whatever drug" and questioned whether Stacey "just overdosed".
The 51-year-old sister of club owner Salvatore told the : "I know strip clubs and I know the type of girls who work there.
"They go get high on whatever drug do their dancing and go home, how do we know this girl didn't just overdose?"
She added that it would be "interesting to see what the police come up with".
The club has also come under fire for censoring social media comments about Stacey's tragic death.
A post on Dreams’ Facebook page on Wednesday morning accused the club of taking down anything about Ms Tierney’s death.
“Stop deleting people’s posts RE: the death of Stacey Tierney. Your establishment has so far made zero public acknowledgment of the fact that this has even happened. This is a beyond shameful and beyond disrespectful way for you to be responding,” Mao Bedford wrote.
Another person asked: “Why haven’t you issued a statement regarding the death of Stacey Tierney?”
The club finally broke it's silence in a statement to saying they “extend their sincere sympathies and condolences to the family and friends of Stacey Tierney, who recently passed away.”
The statement said they were cooperating with Victoria Police with their “ongoing investigation into the circumstances surrounding Stacey’s death”
“However, until such time as all the facts are known and the police investigation has concluded, we are unable to make any further comment or statements in relation to this matter.”
The blonde beauty had ignored warnings not to work at the club and concern rose yesterday about what she was doing there when it was closed.
She reportedly told club staff she was not feeling well when she arrived for her shift on Saturday, December 17.
But friends who danced with her said they immediately feared foul play as police stepped up the hunt for the mystery men yesterday.
Dancer Briar Rose said: “As soon as I heard she had died I asked if she had been killed... I knew in my heart that something was not right.
“She was healthy, didn’t touch drugs and was so upbeat about life she wouldn’t take her own life.
“’I can honestly say she was the kindest soul I had ever met.”
New Zealander Briar said it was out of character for Mr Tierney to spend time with strangers outside normal working hours.
Dreams declined to comment last night.
Briar worked with Stacey at a strip club on Australia’s the Gold Coast before moving to Melbourne and started work at Dreams five weeks ago.
She said there was no way Stacey would have been able to access the club alone and said she was stridently anti-drugs.
She added: “Strippers don’t go to clubs when they’re closed. It just isn’t done.”
Police spent yesterday scouring CCTV footage for clues - but discovered some private areas of the club are not covered by cameras.
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Club management were also being interviewed.
Stacey’s mum Michelle and her sisters Stephanie, Kristie and Kelly-Anne from Stockport, Greater Manchester, were awaiting confirmation of the cause of death.
Her former boyfriend Matthew Girvan said on Facebook he was left distraught by her death and posted pictures of them riding a zip wire together.
He said: “Woke up to some horrible news this morning. Sat and watched the sunrise over Indonesia. My ex girlfriend I was with for 6 years passed away.
“Words can’t describe how devastated I am.”
Friends and family have launched a web drive to raise funds to repatriate Stacey’s body to the UK and had raised more than £11,000 yesterday.
Stacey, a former Manchester fitness instructor who moved to Australia three years ago, was found dead at around 11.50am on Monday December 19.
The men with her made no attempt to raise the alarm when they apparently fled the scene 12 hours earlier when the club was closed to the public.
Other friends said Stacey - who would have celebrated her 30th birthday on January 20 - was “streetwise” and “liked a drink” but never took drugs.
A post mortem examination and toxicology tests on samples taken from her body should reveal the cause of death within days.
A spokesman for Ambulance Victoria confirmed they were called to the scene following reports of a medical issue.
But officials declined to release further details relating the the circumstances citing “privacy reasons.”
A manager at Dreams, which boasts of being “Melbourne’s finest tabletop dancing venue housing a selection of the most exquisite ladies”, said: “We can’t comment.”
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