What's the big deal?
With all those big lights on a jet, I assume that they could see where they were going!
If they needed to return to the runway - they probably would have turned the lights back on.
Did they crash?
Did the cockpit voice recorder reveal a conversation along the lines of
"What do you think George, will we try this one with the runway lights off".
If not then I suspect no real harm was done.
Will they do it again - probably not.
I am not suggesting that taking off without the runway lights should become SOP, but why do we always want to throw the book at someone who flucks up?
Review how the incident came about and look at how we can minimise the chance of it happening again.
If they had been flying a lighty they probably would have been hailed (at least in the press) as heros for using their great skill to save the day.
R