Nightclub bashing victim says ‘it’s a dangerous time for young men’

A young university student who went to the aid of a mate in a nightclub confrontation and was bashed so badly he needed his face rebuilt has warned how easily it can happen.

Liam Mahoney, 23, was violently assaulted on a night out in Melbourne.

A nightclub bashing victim, attacked when he went to the aid of a mate, sustained ­injuries so severe he needed surgery to rebuild his face.

Liam Mahoney, 23, copped three punches and an elbow to the head when he tried to ­defuse a dancefloor confrontation between two thugs and his friend, who had been spat on.

The young university student had his skull and eye socket fractured.

But he believes it could have been far worse and wants to warn others, declaring “this could happen to anyone”.

“So many people in my situation aren’t as lucky as me, I’m so aware of other victims of these kind of attacks who don’t get to walk away from this,” Mr Mahoney said.

“I kept saying ‘We’re not fighting’ before being punched three times — it was over in a matter of seconds.

Liam Mahoney says the attack was over in seconds.

Liam Mahoney reveals his stitches after the attack.

“I hadn’t drunk much at all that night. If it can happen to me, when I had my wits about me, this could happen to anyone. A split second could change your life forever.

“It is a dangerous time to be a young man going out, and that is the reality.”

Doctors told Mr Mahoney he was millimetres from brain damage or losing his eyesight in the South Melbourne attack.

He was in hospital for a week, had to wear a neck brace, and suffered severe concussion.

More than 50 staples were used to close an incision made during reconstructive surgery to his face. “If not dead, I could’ve easily been in a wheelchair, being fed through a straw — it sounds extreme but it was literally that close,” Mr Mahoney said.

“It is a scary thing. It is really difficult, it can happen when you do all the right things on a night out. People need to consider their behaviour and stop and think before they act.”

The shocking incident comes as the Victorian Institute of Forensic Medicine, which has partnered with former boxer Danny Green’s Stop the Coward’s Punch initiative, conducts extensive research into dangerous assaults. The research will in particular focus on the impact on survivors and the growing role of ­illicit drugs in fuelling violence.

The institute’s Richard Bassed said assaults were of particular concern as the holiday season ­approached.

“There is going to be a whole lot of pent-up angst in the community,” he said.

“We are really worried about it over New Year’s Eve and the summer festival season — people are going to let loose and go a bit crazy.

“That is a huge worry.”

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