A Welsh backpacker was yesterday packing her bags to leave Sunraysia after she was viciously assaulted on Sunday morning.

The owner of the hostel she was staying at, said the woman felt unsafe in Mildura and too “scared” to stay here.

“You can work hard to promote the area, but those things happen so quickly and can tarnish the area,” the hostel owner said.

Hostel owners, police and Mildura Rural City Council Mayor Glenn Milne yesterday warned nobody should walk alone in the city late at night.

“I think the police have made a sensible suggestion, ‘Don’t walk by yourself, especially at two or three in the morning’ – not just in Mildura – anywhere” Cr Milne said.

For more of this story, purchase your copy of Tuesday's Sunraysia Daily 6-7-2010.