By Mark Russell
WARNING: Graphic Content
The sentence handed down for the murder of a 21-year-old woman has outraged the victim’s mother.
Tyrone Thompson, who stabbed his ex-girlfriend Mackenzie Anderson 78 times while on parole, was jailed for a maximum of 22 years and six months on Friday. He will serve a non-parole period of 15 years and six months.
Anderson’s distressed mother, Tabitha Acret, ran sobbing from the Newcastle Supreme Court after the sentence was handed down. She collapsed outside.
“While no verdict and no sentence can bring Mackenzie back, we are outraged by today’s outcome,” Acret told reporters.
“Whilst this might be thought of as a good outcome for the courts, we are disgusted that this sentence is what they think the value of my daughter’s life was worth.
Tyrone Thompson pleaded guilty to murdering Mackenzie Anderson.Credit: Instagram
“Justice [Richard] Weinstein’s sentence was an insult to women globally and I call for an urgent appeal of this sentence.”
Acret said she placed a “great deal of blame for my daughter’s death on the justice system”.
Responding to the sentence, NSW Premier Chris Minns said: “I can’t begin to imagine the pain that is being felt by Mackenzie’s family at this news.”
“They rightly deserve justice for the horrific murder of their daughter,” he said.
“I have been advised that the Office of the Director of Public Prosecutions is considering the sentence in line with the Prosecution Guidelines.”
In sentencing Thompson, Weinstein said the murder was a frenzied attack of such ferocity that one of the two knives he used had snapped.
Weinstein said the Crown submitted that the seriousness of the crime had been aggravated by previous domestic violence in the relationship, Anderson’s fear of Thompson and her attempts to end the relationship, which he refused to accept.
The judge noted Anderson’s family had been shattered by her murder and left with feelings of helplessness, despair and anger.
Tabitha Acret, the mother of Mackenzie Anderson, broke down outside Newcastle Court.Credit: AAPIMAGE
Anderson’s loss would profoundly affect her family forever and her death at such a young age was “every parent’s nightmare”, he said.
But the judge also said Thompson’s significant mental health issues, the domestic violence he suffered as a child at the hands of his schizophrenic and drug-addled father, his difficult schooling and his exposure to drugs had diminished his moral culpability.
Weinstein found Thompson had intended to kill Anderson when he first started stabbing her.
Thompson, 25, watched the sentencing via audiovisual link from prison instead of facing his victim’s grieving family in court.
Tyrone Thompson at court last month.Credit: Nine
Thompson had been due to stand trial for murder before pleading guilty in April.
In a letter of remorse to the judge, Thompson, who was diagnosed with a complex post-traumatic stress disorder and severe personality disorder but was not considered psychotic, claimed the pair had struggled with a knife and when his hand was cut “something inside me lost control”.
Acret had told the court how her daughter must have suffered a “fear no human should ever know” on the night she was murdered and that Mackenzie had been convinced Thompson would kill her after being paroled.
Thompson and Anderson had been involved in an on-again, off-again relationship, marred by domestic violence, since late 2019.
Friends of Mackenzie Anderson hold jumpers memorialising her outside Newcastle Court.Credit: AAPIMAGE
He was jailed in October 2021 for assaulting Anderson, intimidating her and destroying her property before being released on parole on March 9, 2022.
Thompson, who ignored an apprehended domestic violence order banning him from contacting Anderson, killed her 16 days later after breaking into her apartment in the Newcastle suburb of Mayfield.
AAP
If you or anyone you know needs support, call Lifeline on 131 114, beyondblue on 1800 512 348, Kids Helpline on 1800 55 1800, or the National Sexual Assault, Domestic and Family Violence Counselling Service on 1800RESPECT (1800 737 732).
Start the day with a summary of the day’s most important and interesting stories, analysis and insights. Sign up for our Morning Edition newsletter.