HKU virologist spared conviction for assaulting man and damaging his phone

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

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.