'It was an air rifle, not an AK 47': Michael Frank Amante. Credit:Facebook. "The one in 2002 goes with a string of charges and the only reason I lied to the police about my identity was because I had a good job at Qantas which I was afraid of loosing [sic]," he explained. Then there was the firearms charge, for which he spent two months behind bars in 2011 and was later convicted on charges including firing a firearm in or near a public place and possessing an unauthorised firearm. "It was an air rifle not an AK 47, I shot my wife in the backside with it from two metres away while she was wearing jeans and all she did was go 'ahhhhh'," Mr Amante told the authority. "If you really want to know the truth, it wasn't even me who shot the damn thing off my verandah accidentally into the toilet window of a Korean BBQ restaurant that was adjacent to our block of flats in Potts Point."

"It was a girlfriend of my wife's who wanted to have a go. Neither [sic] the less I took the blame and spent 55 days over Christmas and New Years and my sons birthday in Silverwater correctional centre (maximum security)." In the emails, penned because he felt a submission by his lawyer Sean Keleher was "a whole lot of legal jargon", Mr Amante acknowledged Dreamgirls had a "poor record" of liquor licence breaches. These included a caution from one night in September 2014 when "four girls forgot to put their undies back on after finishing their stage show." But as for the drug raid last December that resulted in the club being closed for six months, Mr Amante was indignant. "I'm not sure what led to the intel that we were some big cocaine supplying club that required 45 armed swat-like police officers to raid the club on the 19th Dec but we weren't," he insisted.

"Perhaps me getting caught with 8.6 grams of cocaine on November 2015 triggered something I'm not sure," he mused. Mr Amante acknowledged that two strippers were caught with cocaine, one of whom was charged with supply. But he argued that "we are a strip club in Kings Cross, these girls aren't secretarys [sic] or librarians and our customers are from all walks of life, so I think it will be foolish to not assume that some drugs went on." Insisting he is of good character, Mr Amante produced an email to the tuckshop manager at Knox Grammar School, which is attended by his son and where he says he has volunteered several times. Also tendered by Mr Keleher was a reference from his current employer, the general manager of the InterContinental Hotel in Double Bay Anthony Saleh, which noted he was "a trusted employee", short-listed for the job of night manager.

However, a spokeswoman for the InterContinental Hotels Group told Fairfax Media it "has no records showing an Anthony Saleh or a Michael Francis Amante working for the InterContinental Double Bay as a full-time or part-time employee, or as a temporary staff indirectly employed by the hotel since it commenced operations." Despite his best efforts, the ILGA decided Mr Amante should be banned for life from holding a liquor licence and being associated with licensed premises in NSW. The same ban has been given to a former licensee of Dreamgirls, David Lakepa. Deputy Premier Troy Grant praised the speed with which the ILGA made the decision, arguing it was due to recent reforms to how liquor and gaming is regulated in NSW. "Our independent umpire is ensuring bad seeds are weeded out from the industry in an efficient and fair manner, making nights out safer for the community," he said.