A regular customer at a grocery store was caught red handed trying to rob the elderly owner — but claimed in court that it was just a joke gone wrong.

Antoine Francis, 39, walked into the Empire store in Devonshire with a bandana over his face, telling 72-year-old Celestine DeSilva: "Stick 'em up, this is a robbery."

He tried to grab cash from the register but was chased out by Mrs. DeSilva's daughter, who tried in vain to stop him fleeing on his motorcycle.

At Magistrates' Court yesterday Francis — a youth worker at the Mid-Atlantic Wellness Institute — pleaded guilty to attempted robbery, but claimed he'd only been fooling around.

"I've never been before the court except for traffic matters," he said. "With hindsight, everyone now is kind of touchy. I shouldn't have come in there and said 'this is a stick up'."

Magistrate Juan Wolffe warned him he faces jail, commenting: "I just don't accept your story. I don't accept that it was one big joke. Your actions are just not consistent with it being a joke."

He had heard Crown counsel Maria Sofianos describe how Francis entered the store with a bandana covering his nose and mouth on March 11. Mrs. DeSilva was standing by the cash register with a $10 bill in her hand. Francis told her to give him the money, then reached over the counter and tried to grab it.

He was unsuccessful, but then attempted to open the cash register. This prompted Mrs. DeSilva to activate a panic button to alert the Police, and Francis fled.

At this point, said Ms Sofianos, the lady's son and daughter came to her aid.

Daughter Elizabeth Every later told Police she'd heard her mother shout: "No, what are you doing? No, you're not!". She then saw Francis dressed in black with a skull-and-crossbones patterned bandana over his face.

"He was in the process of reaching over the counter and was making stabbing motions toward my mother," she reported.

She and her brother Patrick DeSilva chased the would-be robber out of the store. He got on a motorcycle and made off towards Dock Hill despite Ms Every squeezing the brakes in an attempt to stop him. She managed to pull the bandana off his face, and recognised Francis as a customer for many years.

"I told him 'you owe us an apology'," she said.

Police were on the scene in five minutes. They arrested Francis, a father of four, at his home in Friswell's Hill, Pembroke the next day.

After pleading guilty yesterday, he told the Magistrate he was off work with a broken foot on the day in question, and had gone to the store to settle his outstanding bill of $13. He claimed he had a bandana over his face because he'd been spray-painting a car, and had $140 on him at the time, so no reason to rob the store.

"I did say 'put your hands up this is a stick-up'. She (Mrs. DeSilva) started speaking Portuguese and put her hands up and I thought 'OK, this is not a joke'. People came up behind me and tackled me and I said 'I'm coming to pay my bill'," he said.

He agreed he made motion towards the elderly store owner, but said he had his cell phone in his hand at the time.

Francis cited his job working with children, adolescents and the learning-disabled at MAWI as evidence of his good character.

Mr. Wolffe ordered a background report and set the sentencing date for June 4, granting bail in the meantime and telling Francis to stay away from Mrs. DeSilva and her family.

He remarked: "Anyone 39 years of age should have the maturity not to conduct themselves in this way. Even if it was a joke, it's quite juvenile to do that. Even if I was to accept what you said, a man who works at MAWI as a nurse's aide, you would think you would possess such a maturity level that this sort of thing would not even be carried out as a joke."

Speaking after the case, Mrs. DeSilva, who has run Empire Grocery on North Shore Road for 40 years, told The Royal Gazette: "It was pretty shocking. It was out of character — I know him very well. I recognised him right away."

Mrs. DeSilva, who originally hails from the Azores, said Francis apologised for the incident but she did not see it as a joke. She has now taken legal action to ban him from the store.

"It's not acceptable. You should not do that kind of thing — it's serious," she remarked.

Ms Every said: "I'm glad he's admitted he was wrong. It's unfortunate. I've known him for a long time and he was always a nice guy."

A Bermuda Hospitals Board spokeswoman declined to say whether Francis continues to work at the Mid-Atlantic Wellness Institute, but stated: "We will follow our policy regarding employee convictions which considers patient safety and the individual case of the employee."