at Magistrates' Court to be charged with the premeditated murder of German tourist Antja Herkommer.

If convicted, 24-year-old Burgess could face the gallows.

Dozens of policemen were involved in a huge security operation for the brief 10 a.m. hearing. The outside of the court was coned off.

Burgess, handcuffed to officers and wearing a towel on his head, was slipped into court through the back entrance after arriving in an unmarked car.

A black Police van simultaneously pulled up outside the front in an apparent attempt to divert a phalanx of photographers and reporters.

Burgess, solidly built and about five-feet ten-inches tall, was formally charged by Magistrate the Wor. John Judge.

He was charged with the premeditated unlawful killing of Miss Herkommer on April 16, contrary to the Section 286 of the Criminal Code.

In addition, he was accused of robbing her of a knapsack and contents.

Mr. Judge told Burgess, who was not asked to plea and remained impassive throughout, he had a right to make an application for legal aid.

Senior Crown Counsel Mr. Barrie Meade said the prosecution's papers on the case were not ready, and asked for an adjournment.

The two-minute hearing had a light-hearted moment when Mr. Timothy Marshall, representing Burgess, said he would be making no application for bail.

Mr. Judge remanded Burgess in custody for two weeks until May 7.

Tension mounted again outside the court as people lining each side of Parliament Street and Reid Street waited for Burgess to appear.

Some onlookers, keen to gain vantage points, pressed against railings, climbed on walls and watched from office windows.

Burgess eventually reemerged from the back entrance, his face shielded by the same pink towel.

"Take the towel off,'' one man shouted, and followed up: "Let them see your face.'' Burgess was whisked away to Casemates in the same blue Mitsubishi car he arrived in.

The charges Burgess faces relate to the death of Miss Herkommer, whose body was found at the Maritime Museum, Dockyard.

The 27-year-old dark-haired school teacher had flown to Bermuda from Switzerland, where she was working.

She was visiting her sister Christine Herkommer, who works at a Hamilton jewellery store.

The sisters' parents live in the southern German village of Rechberg, near Stuttgart.

MURDER SUSPECT -- Leroy Burgess, flanked by Police officers, hides his face in a pink towel as he arrives at Magistrates' Court yesterday.