Audrey Griffin's murder raises questions about a system that continues to fail women
OPINION: The murder of 19-year-old Audrey Griffin has triggered heartbreak and rage far beyond the New South Wales community that she called home - heartbreak for the young woman whose promising life was taken from her in the most abhorrent circumstances and rage because her death was not unforeseeable.
It could have been prevented.
Audrey should still be alive today.
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Audrey Griffin, 19, was found half-submerged in Erina Creek, Erina on the Central Coast at 3.45pm on March 24. Nine
Her death at the hands of a known violent offender wasn't an unpredictable tragedy - it was the devastating result of systems that failed her at critical points.
The man who killed her was a known danger, yet was allowed the freedom to strike again.
Adrian Torrens, 53, was serving a community corrections order for breaching an apprehended violence order when he killed Audrey.
In 2020, he was sentenced to a prison term for a slew of violent offences after breaching a community corrections order imposed months earlier.
Time and again, Torrens had shown the courts who he was and what he was capable of.
Why was he not behind bars?
And why were the rights of a repeat offender held above the safety of the community?
There are also questions to be asked over the initial police response to her death, which has been described as bizarrely dismissive.
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Audrey Griffin's death at the hands of a known violent offender wasn't an unpredictable tragedy, it was the devastating result of systems that failed her at critical points. 9News
In the early stages of the investigation, NSW Police described her passing as "not suspicious" and a case of "misadventure".
Her body was discovered partially submerged in a body of water.
Police knew she had been walking home alone after a night out in Gosford.
Any woman who's ever looked over her shoulder at night would be questioning why this wasn't investigated earlier as a potential homicide.
The statistics alone should have been a clue.
It is true that police spend an enormous portion of their time and resources on domestic and gendered violence and indeed many of the police officers I've met over the years carry that responsibility with great care.
However, in this particular case, Audrey's grieving mother deserves answers as to why the case was, it seems, so easily and quickly dismissed.
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In the early stages of the investigation, NSW Police described her passing as "not suspicious" and a case of "misadventure". Nine
One year ago, violence against women was declared a national crisis.
Since then, 95 women have been killed.
So what's changed?
Audrey Griffin's death is not an isolated incident.
It is the predictable outcome of a system that refuses to learn from its failures.
It is time to demand more: and that begins with real accountability for those who show no care for the value of another person's life.
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