Emotions ran high as five youngsters jointly charged with the murder of Kellon Hill walked into a courtroom packed with his friends and family.

Mr. Hill, 18, was stabbed to death as he left a party at Elbow Beach late on Saturday night.

Yesterday, onlookers lined Court Street and Reid Street which were closed to traffic for an hour as four youths and a girl accused of the crime were brought to Magistrates' Court.

The atmosphere was tense and sombre as each of them was led into the courtroom in handcuffs.

Simmons, who pulled a hood over her head to hide her face as she walked in, soon began to sob on the shoulder of her lawyer Larry Scott. The four boys stared straight ahead and occasionally at the floor as they sat behind her in the dock.

The courtroom was packed out with relatives of Mr. Hill and of the accused. At one point the Police asked all but immediate family to leave, but no one did.

Family members sat on each other's laps and some onlookers even stood on benches to get a glimpse of the accused youngsters, who were flanked by several Police officers.

Mr. Hill's parents, Daniel and Gail, and his older siblings sisters Kina and Keira and brother Kyron and Kudre comforted each other and held hands for support.

Mrs. Hill was among several people who were in tears throughout the hour-long hearing while her husband shook with emotion.

Several loud outbursts emanated from the public gallery as lawyers debated administrative issues and Kudre Hill was asked to leave the room after Senior Magistrate Archibald Warner took exception to him voicing his opinion.

However, as Deputy Director of Public Prosecutions Michael McColm read details of the circumstances of the alleged killing which cannot be reported for legal reasons the room was silent apart from the sound of quiet sobbing.

Mr. Warner denied the five teenagers bail, sending the two eldest to Westgate and the rest to the Co-Ed facility until the next hearing on August 28. The handcuffs were quickly snapped back on and they filed back out of court to be whisked away in a convoy of unmarked Police cars with blacked-out windows.