ALBURY mayor Kevin Mack has urged men and women to “never walk alone” at night.
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His advice yesterday came in the wake of an alleged sexual assault on a teenage girl in Albury on Tuesday night.
Cr Mack stressed Albury was “no different” to other towns or cities.
“It’s only unsafe because people are willing to do the wrong thing,” he said.
“There are always people willing to take advantage of situations.
“The message is that men and women should never walk alone after dark, they need to take ownership of their safety.”
Council has no plans to increase security in the area which has lighting along the Dean Street bridge and bicycle path at the eastern end of that span.
“That area is well lit but it is a remote area if someone was in trouble,” Cr Mack said.
Paul Heinjus, who was walking his dog along the same bike path yesterday morning, called the incident “shocking”.
“It’s beyond belief that people can be so cruel,” Mr Heinjus said.
A 17-year-old girl, the same age as the teen assaulted, said she was using the bike path at a similar time on Tuesday night.
Amber Tait said “My boyfriend and I were walking home about that time, but we didn’t see anything.”
“It’s disgusting.”
Nearby neighbour Callan Spinelli, 19, heard about the incident while at work on Tuesday.
“It came as a big a shock because it happened so close to home,” he said.
“We have had robberies, but nothing like this.”
Another nearby neighbour, who was pushing her baby in a pram along the path, said the assault happened at a busy time of night when people would have been around.
“It is well-lit and that’s a busy time of night,” Julie Kaee said.
“It shows that you can never be too careful.”
The message is that men and women should never walk alone after dark, they need to take ownership of their safety.