Five men charged with the murder of seven persons in Rockfort last year were denied bail when they appeared in the Corporate Area Resident Magistrate's court on Wednesday.

Steve McClarty, Marvin Blake, Germaine Currie, Kenroy Cole and Christopher Bryan of east Kingston addresses were denied bail despite applications from their lawyers.

The lawyers for Currie, McClarty and Blake all told the court that the witness identified men by alias names and there was no identification parade or anything in the statement that suggested that their clients were the actual aliases stated. Cole's attorney claimed that his client was not near the scene when the murders occurred and so could not have been implicated.

It is being alleged that between October 4- 5, 2007 gunmen killed seven people on Glasspole Avenue in Rockfort, east Kingston.

After the lawyers made their bail applications, the crown indicated that it was opposed to bail. The crown also said they were awaiting the statement from the police and the post-mortem report for the file.

The preliminary enquiry into the matter has been set to begin on March 19. Resident Magistrate Glen Brown then ordered that the men be remanded in custody until the preliminary enquiry begins.