In the weeks leading up to her death, 21‑year‑old young mum Mackenzie Anderson was living in a state of escalating fear — a reality now reflected in a harrowing trail of social media posts that show just how unsafe her world had become.

Behind the everyday snapshots was a woman trying to protect herself and her toddler from a man who had already breached a domestic violence order eight times.

“Why did you and Tyrone end? You both looked so happy,” Anderson, the subject of the latest episode of 7NEWS’ Kiss and Kill podcast, wrote on a now-deleted TikTok account.

“Because this is what I had to hide,” it continued, before Anderson outlined the abuse she received by her ex-partner, showing horrific images of bruises to her body.

When Tyrone Thompson broke into her home and stabbed her 78 times — switching knives after one broke — Anderson and her family’s worst fears were realised in the most brutal way imaginable.

Horrifically, her own toddler was in the room as she was killed.

Despite the sheer level of violence, Thompson’s actions were deemed “mid‑range” and spontaneous by the courts.

Last year, he was sentenced to 22 years in jail with a non‑parole period of 15, meaning he could be released before he turns 40.

“If we consider stabbing someone 78 times with two knives after breaking 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.

Acret, who lost her appeal to have the sentence extended, has long questioned whether offenders like Thompson can ever be rehabilitated.

“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?” she 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.’”

Forensic criminologist Claire Ferguson said Thompson was an expert abuser who had learned to manipulate both people and the legal system.

“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.

Ferguson said intimate partner homicides often occur 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 Mackenzie’s family, the posts she left behind now stand as a devastating record of a young mother signalling danger — and a system that didn’t act in time.

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.

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

SOURCE: https://7news.com.au/entertainment/podcasts/kiss-and-kill-mackenzie-anderson-documents-abuse-from-tyrone-thompson-prior-to-being-murdered-c-21874446