Former UTS science dean Diane Jolley on trial in NSW District Court
A desperate UTS professor acted out an illegal ruse to be fired after receiving “vulgar, stalkerish” threats in the mail like her stolen underwear, a court has heard.
Police & Courts
Don't miss out on the headlines from Police & Courts. Followed categories will be added to My News.
A desperate UTS professor acted out an illegal ruse to be fired after receiving “vulgar, stalkerish” threats in the mail like her stolen underwear, a court has heard.
Diane Jolley, the former dean of science at the University of Technology Sydney, is on trial in the NSW District Court for allegedly sending herself and colleagues a barrage of abusive letters over a six-month period between July 2019 and January 2020.
These include sending letters dipped in bacteria and deceptively causing the university to pay $127,000 in security to protect her.
Jolley has maintained her innocence, claiming the “vulgar” threats, including her own underwear being stolen then mailed to her, came after a review into the viability of a Chinese medicine course in her faculty.
On Monday, Jolley told the court from the witness box she received several threatening letters over three months, including a picture of her face and a red cross through it, and a letter saying her picture would be given to the Chinese Mafia.
She was stopped on the way to and from work by Chinese community members who were upset the course was ending, she told the court.
Her mental health deteriorated after someone stole her clothes and underwear from her clothesline.
“It escalated when they came to my home. That’s when I really started to crack. I became paranoid and I was always looking over my shoulder,” she told the court through tears.
“The humiliation of having my underwear sent to work and people in the workplace being aware of that … it was very difficult. It’s not something I would wish upon anyone. It felt very stalkerish. I was horrified. I felt violated. Now they’d come to my home. I worried about my kids and my family.”
Jolley told the court she wanted to quit her senior role as soon as possible, without having to serve three-months notice if she was to formally resign.
She told the court her plan was to write a letter to herself, be caught for misconduct and stood down. She would then explain to her seniors why she urgently took those actions.
Jolley said writing an abusive letter to herself and printing it from her work office on November 13, 2019 was a “big mistake”.
“I made a big mistake … It was deliberate. I knew security was watching and they would say something,” she told the court.
Jolley was unable to explain her actions as she was arrested shortly after, and advised by her legal team to not talk about the charges, she told the court.
She has pleaded not guilty to 20 charges including causing financial disadvantage by deception and 16 counts of conveying information likely to make a person fear for their safety.
Earlier in the day, Judge Ian Bourke ordered the jury to find Jolley not guilty on nine charges, ruling the evidence given by the Crown did not have “all the ingredients” to find her guilty.
These included the accusations she posted letters to her employees Dr Andrea Leigh and Professor Debbie Marsh.
The jury is left with 11 counts to decide upon at the end of the trial.
Evidence will continue on Tuesday, with closing submissions due to be heard on Wednesday.
UTS PROFESSOR NOT GUILTY OF NINE OUT OF 20 CHARGES
A senior UTS professor accused of orchestrating a fake harassment campaign against herself has been found not guilty of nine charges.
Dianne Jolley, the former dean of science at the University of Technology Sydney, is on trial in the NSW District Court for allegedly sending herself and colleagues a barrage of abusive letters in 2019 and 2020.
She pleaded not guilty to all 20 charges originally against her including causing financial disadvantage by deception and 16 counts of conveying information likely to make a person fear for their safety.
These include sending letters dipped in bacteria and deceptively causing the university to pay $127,000 in security to protect her.
Jolley maintains her innocence, claiming the “vulgar” threats against her came after a review into the viability of a Chinese medicine course in her faculty.
On Monday, Judge Judge Ian Bourke ordered the jury to find the 51-year-old not guilty on nine charges, ruling the evidence given by the Crown did not have “all the ingredients” to find her guilty.
These included the accusations she posted letters to her employees Dr Andrea Leigh and Professor Debbie Marsh.
The jury is left with 11 counts to decide upon at the end of the trial.
Jolley took to the witness box to give evidence this morning.
She told the court of the “tension” that mounted within the school before the uni planned to scrap the traditional Chinese medicine course.
Jolley told the court she was approached by people to and from work who complained to her.
“Their concern was that I didn’t understand the community impact and the relevance of Chinese medicine as a whole,” she told the court.
An “aggressive” and ”vulgar” letter which said she was a racist was written to her shortly after this, she said. But she originally saw the threats as venting.
“I discarded it, I didn’t take it any further,” she told the court.
When a letter was found in her briefcase, her boss called security and an “immediate response” followed.
She told the court the school installed CCTV in her office and the corridors.
‘Stop these senseless deaths’: Family’s plea to Sydney prison
The family of an inmate who died on a footpath 24 hours after leaving custody say corporate greed caused his “avoidable and senseless” death, accusing a private prison of “prioritising profits over people”.
Named: Man accused of parking meter mayhem
Paying for a car space is never fun but one man took things too far after allegedly smashing a number of parking meters in a northern NSW tourist town, causing more than $15,000 damage.