Rhys Keogh’s night out began ordinarily enough with a few mates playing a quiet game of pool at an inner-city bar.

It ended in a hospital bed, his face slashed open from nose to neck in an unprovoked knife attack that has left him with 42 stitches and terrifying nightmares.

The 22-year-old was in the bathroom at Fluid Oz Bar on Elizabeth Street in the city about 3.10am on Sunday when a man he had never seen or spoken to before pulled out a box cutter and slashed him across the face.

The attacker lunged for the insurance broker’s face three times as he stood at the urinal. The knife connected twice, leaving him with deep wounds that required plastic surgery.