Killer who stabbed ex-partner 78 times ‘not psychotic’, judge told

Tyrone Thompson was mentally ill but not psychotic when he stabbed his ex-girlfriend 78 times, a judge has been told.

Thompson, 25, had been suffering from a complex post traumatic stress disorder and severe personality disorder but not psychosis when he brutally murdered 21-year-old Mackenzie Anderson, defence barrister David Carroll told a Newcastle Supreme Court judge.

Carroll said the diagnosis, which had been accepted by the Crown, meant two forensic psychiatrists were no longer required to be called to give evidence about the extent of Thompson’s mental illness.

Thompson’s mental illness would have to come into play in assessing his moral culpability for the crime when he is sentenced on Friday, he said.

The defence barrister also urged Justice Richard Weinstein to consider the onerous conditions Thompson faced, in isolation in the maximum-security Goulburn Correctional Centre.

Asked today about a letter Thompson had given to the judge, Carroll said it showed remorse but no real insight into his actions.

In the letter, Thompson claimed he had loved Anderson and was sorry for what he had done but never planned to hurt her that night.

He said he took her phone because he wanted to contact her mother to sort out all the issues she had with their relationship, as he wanted to move forward in life with Anderson.

“Things immediately after that escalated far beyond anything I could have imagined,” Thompson wrote.

He claimed they had struggled with a knife and when his hand was cut “something inside me lost control”.

“I get very emotional when I think about how that 30-second period or so of my life changed so many other people’s lives after that night.

“I didn’t have the greatest upbringing myself as a kid as I grew up in a home that included violence and alcohol.

“I now see that it shaped me in ways I wish it hadn’t and impacted what I thought love was meant to be. That is not an excuse just part of the story of how I ended up here.”

Thompson, who stabbed Anderson 78 times with two kitchen knives over two minutes, had been due to stand trial for murder before pleading guilty earlier in April.

This came after prosecutors agreed to say the Crown could not disprove Anderson was holding a knife when they argued, Thompson attempted to disarm Anderson by grabbing the blade injuring his hand, and after disarming Anderson, he began to stab her.

Thompson killed Anderson 16 days after his release on parole after being jailed for serious domestic violence offences against her.

He broke into her apartment in the Newcastle suburb of Mayfield on March 25, 2022.

A male friend who’d gone to her aid for a second time during the night looked through a gap in her blocked door and saw her lying on the ground with Thompson standing over her repeatedly stabbing her.

Thompson was not saying a word.

Police arrived and found Anderson with stab wounds to her face and body.

A broken knife handle lay on top of the left side of her chest.

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