Dianne Jolley refused bail after misinformation charge
A Sydney university academic charged with making false reports of threats against her is behind bars after she allegedly committed another offence the day she attended court.
St George Shire Standard
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A Sydney university academic charged with fabricating a campaign of threats against her of is behind bars after she allegedly conveyed false information that caused her colleagues to fear for their safety.
The University of Technology’s dean of science Dianne Jolley, 49, had pleaded not guilty to three charges after she allegedly sent herself threatening letters which sparked a police investigation and incited her employer to enact $150,000 of security measures to protect her.
Jolley allegedly told police she received four threatening letters at her Woolooware home and her workplace between May and September 2019 and that clothing was stolen from her backyard after she cancelled a controversial Chinese medicine program at the university.
Police allege Jolley then conveyed information she knew to be false that was likely to make the person she told “fear for the safety of employees at the University of Technology” on November 27 – the same day she first appeared in court on the prior charges.
Jolley was charged with giving false information that a person or property was in danger and her bail was revoked for allegedly breaching the condition upon her to be of good behaviour.
She will remain behind bars until her solicitor makes a bail application at Central Local Court on January 21 before her matter returns to Downing Centre Local Court.
Jolley had previously been charged with dishonestly obtaining financial advantage by deception, giving false information and making false representations resulting in a police investigation.
Sources previously told The Daily Telegraph the course at the centre of the threats Jolley reported was the Bachelor of Traditional Chinese Medicine, which was dismantled by the university in September.
The decision to wrap up the course angered students and alumni who expressed concerns that the quality of Sydney’s acupuncture and herbalist services would suffer as a result.
Jolley’s solicitor said Jolley was on leave from UTS with pay and a university spokesman said they were assisting police with the investigation.
