The trial of a man who allegedly stole some $700 by carting off a cash register during a late-night raid on a take-out chicken restaurant last winter got under way in Supreme Court yesterday.

Roger Eugene Lightbourn was said by Crown Counsel Mr. Peter DeJulio to have entered Roosters on Court Street at around 2.30 a.m. last January 28 and shouted at the female cashier to "give me the money.'' He was then alleged to have jumped over the service counter and barked at the woman to "open the till,'' which she tried to do but couldn't.

Eventually, court was told, Lightbourn "ripped up'' the entire cash register and escaped with a second man on a moped, which tipped over twice after it almost collided with a pursuing taxi.

Lightbourn was arrested after he was found in a doorway behind Emmanuel Baptist Church on Dundonald Street.

The second man, identified during the course of the trial as Kimani Fubler, was said to have charged into the kitchen and back office of the restaurant and ordered the two women there to "open the safe.'' Mr. DeJulio's first witness was a Police photographer who produced a photo of a shoeprint that he testified was taken from the top of Roosters' service counter.

When the constable was cross-examined by defence attorney Mr. Archie Warner, however, he admitted that the print "could be an imprint of something other than a shoe.'' The second witness, Roosters cashier Kimberly Clark, said that she was sitting at her post at 2.30 a.m. when a hooded man with a sawed-off hoe handle entered the restaurant, shouted at her to "give me the money'' and jumped over the counter.

"I was to the wall,'' Clark testified. "He kept shouting: `Give me the money, give me the money, open the till, open the till.' I tried turning the top key but the machine would not open. He was still shouting. Finally he took the cash register and threw it against the plexiglass. I ran into the kitchen.'' Although Clark could not identify the robber because "the hood of his jacket was over his face and the string was pulled tight,'' she did remember that the man was wearing a blue long-sleeved pullover with "red under the armpits.'' Clark also said there was approximately $700 in the till at the time. During subsequent questioning, however, Mr. Warner reduced Clark to tears when he challenged both her estimate of the dollar amount and her claims about the jacket.

Because Clark had identified a blue and red jersey that was found near the crime site as the jacket in question, Mr. Warner wanted to know why she told Police that the jacket was red only under the armpits. The found jersey had a bright red band across the chest and shoulders.

"I only remember that it was red under the armpits,'' Clark said finally, adding that the $700 figure was based on past experience on the night shift.

The next witness, Roosters manager Rieo Hollis, testified that she ran into the street after escaping from Fubler and tried to flag down help.

Diane Young, a former prostitute and drug addict who was working on Court Street that night, testified that she saw a motorbike with two men and a cash register on it fall over twice after it was cut off by a pursuing taxicab.

In his cross-examination, Mr. Warner tried repeatedly to discredit Young, who admitted to having used cocaine some two hours before witnessing the scene and to having had designs on the contents of the register.

Young continues to give testimony before Puisne Judge the Hon. Mr. Justice Meerabux today.