New domestic violence murder penalties and sentences in NSW

A murder charge is amongst the most serious types of assault under the law. Recently, the New South Wales Supreme Court sentenced 25 year old Mr Tyrone Thompson to a head sentence of 22 years and 6 months, with a non-parole period of 15 years and 6 months for the murder of his former partner Ms Mckenzie Anderson.

As a result of the case, the NSW Government promptly passed the Crimes Legislation Amendment (Domestic Violence and Sexual Offences) Bill 2025 (NSW). The amendment enshrined a standard non parole period of 25 years for the murder of a current or former partner. New South Wales is now the first jurisdiction in Australia to introduce a specific non parole period for intimate partner homicide, and the standard non parole period is amongst the highest for any offence in NSW.

A ministerial release announcing the reforms highlighted that in the five years to June 2025, 59 people in NSW were murdered by a current or former intimate partner, with 42 of 59 victims being women.

Ms Andersons's Murder

Mr Thompson pleaded guilty to the murder of Ms Anderson. Ms Anderson was 21 years of age and had one child aged about 2 years at the time of her death.

At the time of the murder, Mr Thompson was subject to bail and parole. He was released on parole on 9 March 2022. There was also an Apprehended Domestic Violence Order in place, which had conditions for Mr Thompson not to make any form of contact with Ms Anderson, or to approach her home or place of work.

On the day that Mr Thompson was released on parole, he called Ms Anderson, saying that he was coming for her and that he loved her.

On 11 March 2022, Ms Anderson received Facebook messages from two accounts, one account held under Mr Thompason's name and the other in his father's name. Both messages said Mr Thompson was out of prison, and that wanted Ms Anderson's telephone number. Ms Anderson blocked both accounts. On the same day, Ms Thompson changed the cover photo of his Facebook page to an image of Ms Anderson's child and changed his profile picture to an image of his head being held by the hand of Ms Anderson. Mr Thompson also started gathering information about Ms Anderson from mutual connections, including Ms Anderson's new partner's former partner.

On 19 March 2022 Ms Anderson and Mr Thompson communicated via Facebook messenger. Ms Anderson told Mr Thompason that she had split with her most recent partner because he had cheated on her. On the same day, Ms Anderson sent a photo on Snapchat of her with Mr Thompson to her friend, Ms Brittany Norris, telling her the pair were heading to Ms Anderson's mother's house.

Ms Andersons and Mr Thompson began spending time with each other in the days that followed, visiting Ms Anderson's mothers house, and staying at Mr Norris's house for several days.

On 24 March 2022, Mr Tyler Lance arrived at Ms Norris's house and met Ms Thompson for the first time. After an hour, Ms Anderson, Mr Lance and Ms Thompson left Ms Norris's home and travelled via public transport to Ms Anderson's home. The trio smoked cannabis and socialised.

On 25 March 2022, the day of the murder, Ms Anderson was at her home with Mr Thompson and Mr Lance. Mr Lance and Mr Thompson went to Centrelink Mayfield at some point as Mr Thompson had an appointment. They purchased vodka on the way home, ad consumed it when they returned to Ms Anderson's home.

At 6:48 PM, Mr Thompson used Ms Anderson's phone to text Ms Anderson's most recent ex. He sent a message saying, "I am bigger than you lol" and sent him an image of him in Ms Anderson's bedroom. Ms Anderson obtained her phone from Mr Thompson, and sent messages to Mr Lance, saying her most recent ex had sent the messages Mr Thompson had sent to him to Ms Anderson's mother. Ms Anderson's mother now knew Mr Thompson was at her home.

Mr Thompson was intoxicated and emotional. He was crying and cuddling up to Ms Anderson. Ms Anderson told him to leave her apartment. Ms Anderson sent Mr Lance a text asking him not to leave her in the company of Mr Thompson alone.

Mr Lance took Mr Thompson to the balcony for a cigarette and told him he needed to move on from Ms Anderson. Mr Thompson agreed. He then went to the kitchen and placed a large knife that was in the drawer on the bench without saying anything.

As Ms Anderson and Mr Thompson were walking around her home, Mr Thomson said something to Ms Anderson about not caring that Mr Lance was there. Ms Anderson told Mr Lance that she was afraid and asked him to help her to make Mr Thompson to leave her apartment. Mr Lance took Mr Thompson for a walk. Mr Lance tried to take Mr Thompson to the nearest train station, but Mr Thompson walked in a different direction and told Mr Lance that he was going to his own mother's home.

Mr Thompson went back to Ms Anderson's home. He climbed to the second floor balcony and entered her unit. He used Ms Anderson's phone to send messages to her mother, telling her Ms Anderson wanted them to speak. The calls were not answered, but Ms Anderson's mother text back saying he should not be with Ms Anderson and that the relationship placed Ms Anderson's child at risk. The last message from Ms Anderson's phone to her mother, sent by Mr Thompson, was sent at 10:33 PM.

Very shortly after Mr Lance used Facetime to call Ms Anderson. Mr Thompson answered. Mr Lance returned to the home shortly after. After Ms Anderson realised Mr Thompson had her phone, she asked for it back and said she would call the Police. Mr Lance told Mr Thompson he had to leave and that he was scaring Ms Anderson. Mr Thompson ran from the home, grabbing Ms Anderson's keys on his way out. Mr Lance followed Mr Thompson to retrieve the keys.

Two 000 calls were made by Ms Anderson which capture part of the dialogue between Ms Anderson and Mr Thompson, including Ms Anderson saying "No. Stay away from me. Stay away from me." The call also captured Ms Anderson telling the emergency operator: "He came at me with a knife," and "[He may have a knife still] because there was two that he had out [and] only one of them is here." Mr Thompson left the apartment shortly after. Mr Lance followed him.

Ms Thompson returned to the apartment shortly after, and Ms Anderson sent a text to Mr Lance altering him to the return at 10:48 PM. Mr Lance began to run back to the apartment. At the same time, Ms Leisa Smith, who lived close by to Ms Anderson, heard a male voice yell "Fuck ya" very aggressively. She walked out of her unit to investigate and saw Ms Anderson standing between the blind and a window of her unit, with both fists clenched. Ms Smith said it looked like Ms Anderson was trying to break the window and looked terrified. Ms Smith tried to call Police and then called 000.

Another witness, Ms Bree Hill heard Ms Anderson say "Go on. Stab me again, you dog."

Mr Justin Rankmore and Natasha Rankmore, who also lived nearby, heard "thumps" like the sound of someone being punched or kicked. In between the thumps he heard the offender yelling loudly "I've been stabbed. You stabbed me".

Mr Lance returned to the unit and tried to open the door. He could not open it all the way due to an obstruction. He looked through the gap available to him and saw Ms Anderson lying on the floor behind the door. He saw Ms Anderson's child lying on the floor nearby covered in blood. Mr Lance saw Mr Thompson standing over Ms Anderson's body while he stabbed her repeatedly with a knife. Mr Lance called 000 and ran from the unit complex.

When the Ambulance arrived, Mr Thompson repeatedly asked for assistance for his bleeding hand when staff were tending to the now deceased Ms Anderson. A Detective Sergent attended the scene, activated his body worn footage and asked Mr Thompson what had happened. Mr Thompson relevantly stated: "... we just got into a heated argument about her mum harassing us, right?.. she [had] a fucking knife ... And then I've literally just grabbed the knife, and I just fucking stabbed, stabbed, stabbed ... and just jumped on her head, that's all that's happened."

Definition of Murder

Murder is contained in section 18 of the Crimes act 1900 (NSW). Murder is defined as a voluntary act or omission to act by the defendant that causes the death of the deceased and the act is committed with an intent to inflict grievous bodily harm, or an intent to kill, or reckless indifference to human life, or committed by the defendant or some accomplice with them in an attempt to commit, or during or immediately after the commission of, an offence punishable by at least 25 years' imprisonment (constructive murder).

How to Prove Murder

To secure a conviction for murder, the prosecution must prove the following essential elements beyond reasonable doubt:

1. The accused voluntarily committed an act or omitted to act causing the deceased to die; and
2. A the time of committing the act causing death, the accused person:
   • Intended to cause really serious injury or permanent or serious disfiguring; or
   • Intended to kill; or
   • Acted with reckless indifference to human life. This standard is met when the accused was aware that his or her act carried a probable risk of causing death, yet committed the act regardless; or
   • Was committing a crime carrying a maximum penalty of at least 25-years imprisonment. This is known as the doctrine of constructive murder. Liability for murder will arise where the death occurred during, or immediately after, the commission or attempted commission of a serious offence punishable by at least 25 years' imprisonment. Here, the intent to commit that underlying offence effectively supplies the fault element for the resulting homicide.

New Penalties and Standard Non-parole Period for Domestic Violence Murder

The maximum punishment for murder is imprisonment for your natural life pursuant to section 61 of the Crimes (Sentencing Procedure) Act 1999 (NSW). This applies unless the sentencing Judge imposes a non-parole period.

A life imprisonment sentence can only be imposed if the prosecution can convince the sentencing Judge beyond reasonable doubt that the extent of criminality involved in the murder was so extreme that only life imprisonment is appropriate keeping in mind the purposes of punishment, which is the public interest in punishment, community protection, retribution and deterrence.

If a life imprisonment sentence is not being imposed to a convicted murderer, the sentencing Judge must set a parole and non-parole period of imprisonment. The non-parole period is the portion of the full term of the imprisonment sentence to be served in custody, while the parole period is the period the offender can serve in the community under strict conditions and supervision by probation and parole.

The law sets a standard non-parole period of 20 years imprisonment if the case fits the middle range of objective seriousness, or 25 years if the victim was a child under 18 years old or a police officer, emergency service worker, correctional officer, council worker health worker, teacher judge or other public official if the offence arose because of the victim's work.

As mentioned above, under the most recent amendments, where the victim was the accused's current or former intimate partner, the law now imposes a standard non parole period of 25 years.

The content of this article is intended to provide a general guide to the subject matter. Specialist advice should be sought about your specific circumstances.