'Do something': Mum of killed teen pleads with leaders to stop scourge of DV

Warning: This story contains the name and images of a deceased Indigenous person.

Audrey Griffin was two weeks away from starting her dream career in the navy when she was killed by a stranger as she walked home at night.

That night on March 22, her mother Kathleen Kirby lost her only child.

Audrey had travelled to the NSW Central Coast to visit friends before she left to join the defence forces.

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About 2am Audrey tried to get an Uber or a taxi, but with none available she started to walk.

She never made it home.

"I'd woken up, and I looked at the phone, and I saw the location, and straight away I was alarmed where the location was," Kathleen said.

When Kathleen couldn't make contact with Audrey she called her friends.

They rushed to the location along the creek, where they found her phone, her bag, her hairclip - and then Audrey face down in the creek.

"It's not right for a young girl to have to find her best friend in the water," Kathleen said.

About one month after Audrey's body was found, Adrian Torrens - a known violent offender - was arrested and charged with murder.

Last week he took his own life.

Now A Current Affair can reveal Torrens' horrid history of domestic violence.

In 2020 he was imprisoned for 20 months, but received parole after four months.

In May last year another apprehended domestic violence order was imposed against him.

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In January he was hit with a community corrections order, but managed to avoid jail.

And this month he was charged with Audrey's murder along with 11 domestic violence charges.

For Kathleen, it's time leaders stepped into action to address the issue.

"Get on board. Do something. Make a change," Kathleen said.

"She wasn't a number. She's just not somebody you just … just not another person that just gets brushed under the carpet."

Opposition Leader Peter Dutton told A Current Affair he "can't think of a higher priority for us as a country" than to stop the scourge of violence against women.

Prime Minister Anthony Albanese today pledged a DV recovery centre for the Central Coast, which the Coalition matched.

But for most of the campaign the issue has barely rated a mention.

Watch the full video in the player above.

Lifeline 13 11 14 

Beyond Blue  1300 22 4636.

National Sexual Assault, Domestic Family Violence Counselling Service 1800RESPECT (1800 737 732).

For 24/7 crisis support run by Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people, contact 13YARN (13 92 76).