The State Government will today introduce legislation to increase the minimum non-parole period in cases of intimate partner homicide following a campaign by Newcastle mother Tabitha Acret.
Her daughter Mackenzie Anderson was brutally murdered by her ex-partner in 2022 and he was subsequently sentenced to a minimum non-parole gaol term of 15 years.
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It’s a sentence the Crown had unsuccessfully argued was “manifestly inadequate.”
The Government wants to increase the minimum term for anyone who murders their current or ex-partner to 25 years.
Tabitha Acret says it’s been a long fight.
“I thought I’d still be knocking on doors for a long time. So very, very impressed that the NSW Government has taken on recommendations.
“This won’t solve everything but it’s a step in the right direction,” she said.
She says the shorter sentence given to killer Tyrone Thompson could be referenced in other cases.
“To know that that case became case law and could be used to help other violent offenders have lighter sentences was just another layer of trauma in everything that had already happened.
“But to know now that this can be part of her legacy to see a change in legislation is something that really helps.
“[The Government has] made some really great changes, but as a community we’re really going to have to work together.
This change in legislation falls under tertiary prevention, and while tertiary prevention is an important piece of the puzzle, primary prevention is the most important piece of the puzzle and it’s multi-layered and very complex,” she said.
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| Tabitha Acret / supplied |
