Despite flagging plans to kill his ex-partner and using two knives to stab her 78 times in front of her toddler after one broke, the level of violence perpetrated by Tyrone Thompson was considered “mid-range” and spontaneous.

Episode four of 7NEWS’ hit new podcast Kiss & Kill, released tonight, explores Thompson’s recent sentencing and whether rehabilitation is probable, or even possible.

Last year, Thompson was sentenced to 22 years jail with a non-parole period of 15 years, for killing 21 year-old mum Mackenzie Anderson, meaning he could be out before he turns 40.

“If we consider stabbing someone 78 times with two knives after breaking (the first one) in front of a child in two minutes, mid-range, I think we’ve got some bigger problems,” Mackenzie’s mother, Tabitha Acret told 7NEWS.

Tyrone Thompson fatally stabbed Mackenzie Anderson 78 timesTyrone Thompson fatally stabbed Mackenzie Anderson 78 times Credit: 7NEWS

Thompson was subject to both bail and parole when he killed the 21 year-old young mum after breaching a domestic violence order eight times.

“I wholeheartedly believe in restorative justice, but I do think we have to recognise criminals like paedophiles and people with narcissistic personality and anti-social disorders – can we rehabilitate them?” Acret said.

“And if we can’t rehabilitate them, what are we doing when we release them after 10,15, years? We’re just setting up another victim. So we need to figure this out, because it’s not OK to just keep putting them back out into society and going: ‘Oh, we’ll get you the next crime.’”

Acret lost her appeal to have the sentenced extended, the court conceding it was intentional but not premediated.

Tabitha Acret’s daughter Mackenzie Anderson was killed in a domestic violence murder.Tabitha Acret’s daughter Mackenzie Anderson was killed in a domestic violence murder. Credit: AAP Images/7NEWS

Forensic Criminologist Claire Ferguson said Thompson was an expert abuser and had learned to also manipulate the legal system as well as people.

“He’s an abuser of everybody. He’s intimidating people, not with status, but with the fact that he’s so unpredictable and will continue to be that way,” she said.

Dr Ferguson said perpetrators of intimate partner homicides mostly struck when “the walls were closing in and clearly didn’t have the skill set to be able to behave in a way that we would see as non-criminal”.

“… because he had all of these charges against him, and there was really nothing he could do to fix anything that was going on in his life,” she said.

“So he just went completely in the other direction and then blames everyone but himself.

“He’s a true victim, if you ask him of everything that’s happened in his past and continuing, including in the homicide that he perpetrated, which is unbelievable.”

For help, call — DV Connect 1800 737 732 (1800RESPECT) or Lifeline: 13 11 14

Please support:

The Red Heart Campaign and Australian Femicide Watch: www.australianfemicidewatch.org/support

The Allison Baden-Clay Foundation www.allisonbadenclayfoundation.org.au

Beyond DV www.beyonddv.org.au

The Red Rose Foundation www.redrosefoundation.com.au

White Ribbon Australia www.whiteribbon.org.au

Friends with Dignity www.friendswithdignity.org.au

Kiss & Kill is available on 7PLUS as a vodcast, and on LiSTNR as a podcast.

Previous episodes can be found below.



Alison Sandy is the 7NEWS National Investigations Editor and Executive Producer of Kiss and Kill.