Mum of Mackenzie Anderson grief after daughter’s alleged murder

The mum of a 21yo woman who was allegedly murdered by her ex-partner has spoken out about her grief.

Warning: Confronting

Tabitha Acret wants her daughter to be remembered as a fighter.

On March 25, 2022, 21-year-old woman Mackenzie Anderson was allegedly murdered. Police were called to a unit in Newcastle on NSW’s Central Coast where they found the young mum bleeding outside her home, suffering from multiple stab wounds. She died at the scene.

The mum’s ex-partner, 22-year-old Tyrone Thompson has since been charged over her alleged murder and also faces charges related to breaching an AVO. His case remains before the courts.

“She fought very, very hard,” Ms Acret tells NCA NewsWire.

Mackenzie Anderson with mum Tabitha Acret. Picture: Instagram

April will mark her little boy’s third birthday.

“When he turns three in April, he will have had more birthdays without his mum, then he’s had with her,” she says.

“We’re going to have to keep talking about this every year, like on Mother’s Day when he doesn’t have someone to buy a present for.”

On Wednesday, the NSW Coalition committed $20m to expand the state’s electronic monitoring devices for high-risk domestic violence offenders.

This means if Dominic Perrottet remains as Premier after the March 25 state election, NSW will receive 200 more electronic monitoring devices, in efforts to protect victim-survivors. Currently the state has just 60.

Mackenzie Anderson, 21, died after being stabbed multiple times in her home. Picture: Facebook

Ms Acret says it's a “move in the right direction” and believes it “could have made a huge difference” to her daughter’s life.

In the best case scenario, Ms Acret wants to see a monitoring system that would alert a victim-survivor, if their a potential perpetrator was in the suburb.

“It’s another consequence that might deter some people as well … because AVOs don’t really work,” she says.

It was a comment echoed by NSW Premier Dominic Perrottet earlier this week.

“An AVO is simply a piece of paper. These electronic monitoring devices provide greater protection for women across NSW. It’s a very important investment.”

“We want women, wherever they live in our great state, to feel safe and protected. “

NSW Minister for Women’s Safety, Natalie Ward said similar measures had proven successful in other jurisdictions.

“We’ve seen successful examples in other states of how this program can be rolled out, including Project Vigilance in Tasmania, which saw great success with the electronic monitoring of high-risk and persistent family and domestic violence offenders,” she said.

CEO of Domestic Violence NSW, Delia Donovan welcomed the commitment but said the “vitally important” measure would need to be supported by other measures.

“It cannot be done in isolation without serious investment into prevention and education campaigns to stop the violence before it starts.”

Minister for Women’s Natalie Ward said the new initiatives were “vitally important”. Picture NCA NewsWire/ Gaye Gerard

For Ms Acret, she’s triggered every time she hears of another woman dying due to domestic or sexual violence. In 2022, 55 women allegedly died due to domestic violence in Australia, according to Destroy the Joint’s Counting Dead Women project.

“You know exactly how that family feels,” she said.

Eventually she’d like to see the fight against domestic and sexual violence to move away from reaction and more prevention. She adds that education for boys and men is another important piece of the puzzle.

“Prevention is way better than a reaction. It’s great that we’ve got some money going into some reactive methods, but we need to match that with preventive methods,” she says.

She said we need to question the backgrounds of abusers.

“I think it’s just a realist measure. You can get caught up in the emotions of it but it won’t get to a solution. Really what I want to see is an outcome.”