Senior Aussie policeman under fire for remarks on female lone walker

A high-ranking Australia's Victoria Police officer has come under criticism for comments he made on Thursday following the murder of a 17-year-old girl in Melbourne, saying women shouldn't walk alone in parks.

Victoria's homicide squad chief, Detective Inspector Mick Hughes told ABC radio after the brutal murder of Masa Vukotic in Melbourne's eastern suburbs that women needed to be more cautious when they were alone in public, especially after dark.

"I suggest to people, particularly females, they shouldn't be alone in parks," Hughes said.

"I'm sorry to say that is the case. We just need to be a little bit more careful a little bit more security-conscious."

The comments have drawn criticism from the media and community groups, who slammed the remarks as sexist, and suggested that women should not have to change daily routines due to violence.

Natalie Pastrana from the women's rights group, Reclaim the Night, told 3AW radio on Friday that more needed to be done to tackle the root causes of violence, rather than tell women not to go out at night.

"It's the same attitude -- oh well, this happened, so don't walk at night -- rather than dealing with tackling the problem," she said.

Masa Vukotic was brutally murdered while walking in an eastern suburbs Melbourne park on Tuesday evening.

Paramedics were called to the scene, but she was unable to be revived.

Assistant Commissioner at Victoria Police, Stephen Fontana said on Friday that despite the backlash, Hughes' comments were well intentioned.

"Yes, Mick did say that he believes people, particularly women, shouldn't walk alone," Fontana said on Friday.

"At the time he did this early morning interview, the (homicide) squad were under a lot of pressure and Mick was working extremely long hours ... all with the goal of finding this killer.

A 31-year-old man has since been charged with Vukotic's murder and faces a further six unrelated charges including assault and rape. Endi