pleaded not guilty at their first court appearance yesterday.

Yusef Ameerbakka DeSilva, Rupert Elroy Archibald and Michael Eugene Dillas appeared together in the dock at Supreme Court.

The trio, wearing orange regulation prison uniforms, denied any part in the robbery at the Bank of Bermuda's Somerset branch on April 9.

DeSilva, 26, of Cobbs Hill Road, Warwick and Archibald, 35, of Rocky Wold Drive, Sandys, each pleaded not guilty to threatening two bank workers with a firearm and using the weapons to carry out the robbery.

Dillas, 31, of Stovell Bay Lane, Pembroke, denied three charges of being an accessory and helping DeSilva and Archibald carry out the offence.

Prosecutors alleged the trio made off with BDA$8,422 and US$9,581 from one woman.

Another member of staff was said to have been forced to hand over BDA$15,816, US$4,579 and 5.30. The three accused men spoke in court only to give their not guilty pleas to all eight charges. Chief Justice Austin Ward ordered the defendants to be remanded in custody until they appeared at Supreme Court for a second hearing on February 2, 1998.

Two more alleged bank robbers also appeared in court yesterday -- and one of the accused changed his plea to guilty.

Randolph Granville Lightbourne, 31, of Devonshire, and Reid Henry Jones, 24, of Sandys, denied armed robbery in a $70,000 hold-up at the Bank of Butterfield's Somerset branch on July 8. The pair, who appeared at Supreme Court last month, were back before Chief Justice Ward to hear their case adjourned.

Lightbourne has denied using a Colt 45 automatic pistol and two charges of unlawful wounding during the robbery.

But Jones yesterday admitted his part in robbing Randolph Earl Spencer and defence counsel Elizabeth Christopher immediately asked for a social inquiry report to be prepared.

Jones' guilty plea will be considered when he re-appears at Supreme Court on January 2. Lightbourne's case has been put off until February 2.

Court shorts: Page 6