By Riley Walter
The mother of a woman who was stabbed 78 times by her ex-boyfriend has vowed to keep fighting for her daughter’s legacy, with the state’s top prosecutor set to appeal the “horrific” sentence handed to her killer.
NSW Director of Public Prosecutions Sally Dowling, SC, will appeal against Tyrone Thompson’s sentence for murdering 21-year-old Mackenzie Anderson in a frenzied attack in March 2022.
Mackenzie Anderson, 21, was found stabbed to death at her home in March 2022.
Thompson was this month jailed for a maximum of 22 years and six months, with a non-parole period of 15 years and six months, outraging Anderson’s mother, Tabitha Acret, who collapsed outside the Newcastle Supreme Court after Justice Richard Weinstein sentenced Thompson.
Acret welcomed the appeal, saying Thompson’s sentence “wasn’t just horrific for our family, but it’s horrific for women across Australia”.
“The worst day of my life was the day that I found out my daughter had died, and the second-worst day of my life was actually that sentencing day. I was just so shocked and overwhelmed by what came out of the judge’s mouth. I just never expected something so low,” she told Today on Nine.
“I don’t want her legacy to be something where case law is quoted to get a lighter sentence. That idea devastates me greatly, and so fighting for her legacy to be something of change and of hope for women really fuels me.”
Anderson’s mother, Tabitha Acret, speaks to media outside court after sentencing.Credit: AAPIMAGE
Acret said it was “extremely scary” that Thompson had not been handed additional jail time for breaching an apprehended violence order her daughter had in place against him.
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.
A DPP spokesperson confirmed that a notice of appeal against Thompson’s sentence was filed in the NSW Supreme Court on Thursday afternoon, on the ground that it was “manifestly inadequate”.
In sentencing Thompson, Weinstein said the murder was a frenzied attack of such ferocity that one of the two knives he used had snapped.
Tyrone Thompson was this month jailed for a maximum of 22 years and six months.Credit: Nine
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.
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 started stabbing her. Thompson had been due to stand trial for murder before pleading guilty in April.
With 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).
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