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Brian Wong

A University of Hong Kong (HKU) virologist has been spared a criminal conviction for assaulting a man and damaging his mobile phone at a railway station last year.
Eastern Court on Friday placed Vijaykrishna Dhanasekaran on a two-year bind-over order and instructed him to pay HK$800 (US$102) in damages, after he admitted attacking a stranger at Hong Kong MTR station on August 17, 2025.
The 48-year-old associate professor, who heads the university’s pathogen evolution lab, could be fined HK$2,000 if he failed to keep the peace during the bind-over period.
The court heard Dhanasekaran was involved in a “trivial dispute” with retiree Raimundo Kwok Chun-tung, 56, inside a lift connecting to the Airport Express shortly after 6pm.
Dhanasekaran used his mobile phone to film Kwok, who then used his phone to film the defendant in return.
In the heat of the moment, the defendant knocked Kwok’s Samsung Galaxy Note 20 to the ground, then pushed him several times and kicked the HK$3,000 phone out of the lift.
A civil servant who witnessed the incident called police. Dhanasekaran remained silent under caution.
Kwok sustained scratches to his left arm and cuts to his left knee, while reporting mild pain in his right hip. He spent HK$800 to repair the cracked screen and dents on his phone.
Prosecutors agreed to drop charges of assault occasioning actual bodily harm and criminal damage on the condition that the defendant accept the bind-over order.
Dhanasekaran joined HKU’s School of Public Health in 2020 while also holding research positions in Singapore and Australia, according to the university’s website. He was credited for his study on the worldwide resurgence of the deadly H5N1, the virus that causes bird flu.


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Hong Kong

Law and Crime

Vijaykrishna Dhanasekaran, 48, placed under two-year order to keep the peace and instructed to pay HK$800 in damages


Vijaykrishna Dhanasekaran, 48, placed under two-year order to keep the peace and instructed to pay HK$800 in damages.


Crime in Hong Kong

The University of Hong Kong

HKU virologist spared conviction for assaulting man and damaging his phone

.css-1c6uqr6{color:inherit;font-weight:inherit;font-size:inherit;font-family:inherit;line-height:inherit;overflow-wrap:break-word;}Vijaykrishna Dhanasekaran, 48, placed under two-year order to keep the peace and instructed to pay HK$800 in damages

Vijaykrishna Dhanasekaran, 48, placed under two-year order to keep the peace and instructed to pay HK$800 in damages