An amateur rugby player who claimed he was provoked into punching a former colleague on the nose outside a Wan Chai bar was yesterday fined $2,000 for the assault.
Laurie Albert Kane, a law student at a British university, came to Hong Kong for the Rugby Tens Competition a few days before the incident took place on March 17 this year.
The 23-year-old yesterday pleaded guilty to a charge of assault causing bodily harm to a Nepalese man, Samar Gurung, 42, in Lockhart Road, Wan Chai.
Principal Magistrate Ian Candy, in the Eastern Court, agreed to impose a relatively low fine, instead of a jail term, because the offence was relatively light.
The court heard Kane went out to Wan Chai on the evening before the rugby competition.
He encountered a group of six Nepalis outside a bar in Lockhart Road.
The court was told Kane grabbed the victim with both arms and then punched him once on the nose.