A British photographer for the Sunday Times who said that he was assaulted by President Robert Mugabe's wife while she was on a shopping spree in Hong Kong is uncertain whether he will press charges or not.

Richard Jones said he was hit repeatedly by Grace Mugabe, who is infamously known as the First Shopper in Zimbabwe, when he tried to take pictures of her near a luxury hotel in Hong Kong.

Jones said Mugabe, 43, ordered a bodyguard to hold him down and then attacked him herself on Thursday near the Shangri-La hotel on Hong Kong's Kowloon peninsula.

When I heard what the assignment was, of course it's not a regular assignment to try and tail Grace Mugabe, Jones told Reuters.

Everybody knows the reputation her husband has, but of course it was completely shocking when it happened. It came out of the blue, he added.

There were a lot of cuts and abrasions and they're still visible, said Jones who needed medical attention at the time.

Jones said he hadn't yet decided whether to press charges against Mugabe who has already reportedly left Hong Kong.

I really don't know how the legal system works in Hong Kong ... I probably will be going back to the police station in the next couple of days and see how it goes, Jones said.

I don't have a next step, you know. I'll let justice take its course and the police have been very good and I don't think they're going to sweep the thing under the carpet, he added.

Mugabe left Hong Kong to return to Zimbabwe, the Sunday Times said.

Zimbabwe