Dark terror: rapist dragged victim to gloomy Potts Point lane with no CCTV The scene at 90 Victoria Street, Potts Point, Sydney, of the laneway at approximately 8.30pm the night after the attack. LIT by one amber lamp - and with no security camera in sight - the Sydney City Council-owned tunnel where a woman was pulled from the street and raped is a crime blind spot. Known as 90a Victoria St, the 85m tunnel in Potts Point that leads into the dead-end Tusculum Lane is more than 500m from the closest eye in the sky, near a women's refuge, a medical clinic and a lane of wheelie bins. Land records list City of Sydney Council as the owner, with the sole lamp the responsibility of Ausgrid. Residents and community leaders have called for the city's blind spots to be lit up to protect women, with the power company vowing to discuss lighting levels with council. A map showing the location of CCTV cameras in Potts Point. Liberal councillor Christine Forster, who has pleaded for more CCTV, yesterday repeated her call for action. "Kings Cross and other parts of the city are in desperate need of more CCTV coverage in known trouble spots and I've already asked the City of Sydney to look at funding new cameras," she said. The city also needs to get serious about advertising its CCTV coverage so troublemakers are aware they are being filmed. Other major cities like London make it widely known that they have extensive CCTV networks because that knowledge can act as a deterrent to people who might otherwise make trouble. It's well overdue for us to be doing the same thing and I will be asking the city to act on this at our next council meeting. A silhouette of a woman in the alleyway beside 90 Victoria Road, Potts Point where a Belgian backpacker was raped. A Sydney City Council spokeswoman said: "We install our cameras in areas which are known to have higher levels of crime and anti-social behaviour, based on data provided by the government. We are assisting police by providing CCTV footage from cameras in surrounding areas. She said the lighting in the lane at 90a Victoria St is owned and maintained by Ausgrid. "City staff are in discussions with Ausgrid about lighting levels in the area," she said. Ausgrid last night confirmed it was holding discussions with Sydney City Council to review the lighting, while the council admitted its cameras did not cover the area of the street. "We are checking on the two streetlights in question to confirm they meet these standards," an Ausgrid spokesman said. The lamp in the laneway was replaced earlier this year as part of routine maintenance. A couple walks past the alleyway on Victoria Street, Potts Point. Decisions to upgrade lighting can only be made at the request of councils. Helen Crossing, the convener of the 2011 Residents' Association, said the government also needed to wind back trading hours in local bars and clubs. The long trading hours that lead to excessive drinking and increased anti-social behaviour is a big issue for residents. It's a recipe for disaster," she said. Local businesses opposite the scene backed safety upgrades while local of eight years Rick Pillon said he wouldn't have a problem walking through the alley at night. "It's not the sort of place you would expect anything to happen," he said. I think someone who did this would have to be sick - it's very unusual. Local resident Rick Pillon walks his dog Bruno through the alleyway beside 90 Victoria Road, Potts Point. Alex Greenwich, the independent MP for Sydney, said he would make representations to local police to step up patrols in the lanes and alleyways around Potts Point. "That end of Victoria St is primarily residential but a number of backpacker residences back on to it," he said. There are a lot of young families there. Police shouldn't just be looking at the main drag in Kings Cross. It's also about going for walks away from the bright lights and check the alleyways and laneways. By Mark Morri THE young woman who was raped in a Potts Point laneway last week had stepped out to grab something to eat when she was attacked. Clothes belonging to the 25-year-old, who has returned to her native Belgium and had only been in Australia for three days, have been sent for DNA testing as police continue to hunt the predator, who struck at 8.30pm last Wednesday. "The woman has returned home," Detective Inspector Paul McDonald said. We will keep in touch with her and keep her informed of the investigation. DNA evidence has also been gathered from the scene. "Forensic testing is one avenue we are pursuing but we will continue to talk to people in the area and look at CCTV footage," Insp McDonald said. Detectives are investigating two other indecent assaults on women that happened in the area earlier this month. On November 3 a woman was followed into a building in Woolloomooloo by a man who exposed himself and then indecently assaulted her. Three days later a woman was indecently assaulted by a man who followed her into an Elizabeth Bay unit block. A staff member from a backpacker hostel on Victoria St, Potts Point, said they had supplied CCTV to police. We've handed over the footage to them from the front and back of our premise. I hope it assists," she said. She said staff at the hostel had given extra safety advice to guests. "Even before this we make them aware, if they haven't noticed already, that we are in the heart of the city's nightlife," she said. But I consider Kings Cross to be safer than what it was 10 or 15 years ago. A manager from Kings Cross Backpackers, on nearby Bayswater Rd, said they had stepped up security since last week's attack. "We go out in a group and we tell people to make sure they stay in the group," she said.