New charges for trio A trio of alleged bank robbers had the number of counts on their indictment reduced by four when they appeared in Supreme Court
The monthly arraignments session saw Yusef Ameerbaka DeSilva, Rupert Elroy Archibald and Michael Eugene Dillas plead not guilty to the new set of charges which relate to the armed robbery of the Bank of Bermuda's Somerset branch.
It is now alleged that the three men committed two counts of armed robbery, used a firearm and carried a firearm or a replica of a firearm with criminal intent on April 9 of last year.
DeSilva was individually charged with possession of ammunition on the same date.
DeSilva, of Cobbs Hill Road, Warwick, Archibald, of Rocky Wold Drive, Sandys, and Dillas of Stovell Bay Lane, Pembroke will be tried on July 13.
Crown Counsel Patrick Doherty said the original indictment was being amended to simplify matters for the jury in the upcoming trial.
He added that he did not believe it would prejudice the accused in any way.
Archibald's lawyer Marc Telemaque and lawyer Elizabeth Christopher, who represents the other two men, offered no objection to the Crown's amendment.
DeSilva, 26, and Archibald, 35, had originally pleaded not guilty to threatening two bank workers with a firearm and using the weapon to carry out the robbery.
Dillas, 31, had denied three charges of being an accessory and helping the other two men carry out the offence.