George Broome, a sexual health worker with Griffith Aboriginal Medical Service, spoke to hundreds of people at the Walk A Mile In Her Shoes event in Memorial Park on Wednesday, wearing a t-shirt bearing a picture of his mother, Carol Penrith.

Ms Penrith was found dead in her home on November 28, 2014 and soon afterward, a detective told the family she had been murdered. “My brothers, family and I have been personally touched by domestic violence,” Mr Broome said.

“The grief we have felt is unimaginable and the impact of losing our mum has affected every part of our lives.”

It was the first time Mr Broome had spoken publicly about his mother’s death.

“We all need to stand together and break the silence about domestic violence or any other type of violence and abuse against women,” Mr Broome said.

“We want to be able to take a stand against this type of violence and be able to rise above the stigma of this ugly act. We need men to be able to stand up and say ‘no’, but more importantly we need kids to see this type of violence is not OK.”

Mr Broome encouraged people to be on the lookout for warning signs of violence among their friends and family.

“I encourage you to help them, speak up and help them walk away so something like this does not happen again,” Mr Broome said.

“As a community our message needs to be clear and united that hitting women is not OK and a potential perpetrator needs to be a real man and walk away.”

According to Superintendent Michael Rowan from Griffith Local Area Command (LAC), 1800 matters of domestic violence were reported to them last year, equating to about four per day.

“That’s nearly four a day,” he said. “But I’m also confident more people are prepared to come forward and report it.”

On Wednesday morning, Luke Birch pleaded guilty in Griffith Local Court to the murder of Carol Penrith. The case was adjourned to the Supreme Court for arraignment on February 25, 2016.