Roosters restaurant, walked free yesterday after a Supreme Court judge threw out the case yesterday.

Puisne Judge the Hon. Mr. Justice Meerabux declared the defence had no case to answer and formally advised the jury to deliver a not guilty verdict.

The judge's decision came at the end of a week of legal arguments at the retrial of Lightbourne accused of stealing a cash register containing $700 from the Court Street restaurant.

Mr. Archibald Warner, representing Lightbourne, argued the evidence of witnesses who saw the robber on the night of January 28 last year was not sufficiently strong for a jury to convict and requested the case be dismissed.

A number of witnesses said they saw almost nothing of the man's face which was shrouded in a dark hood.

They also gave contradictory evidence on the clothes he wore.

"The judge ruled the identification evidence was too poor in the given conditions,'' Mr. Warner said yesterday.