Dianne Jolley accused of poison ploy and fake home invasion

A Sydney professor has been accused of pretending she was poisoned and staging a home invasion before being “caught red-handed”.

A former Sydney professor has been accused of pretending she was poisoned and staging a home invasion before being “caught red-handed’.

The Crown claims Dianne Jolley, the former UTS Dean of Science, sent herself and other teachers fake abusive letters, pretending to be disgruntled students or teachers who were disappointed that a Chinese medicine course was ending.

This caused the university to pay $120,000 in security to protect the 51-year-old.

Dianne Jolley arrives at The Downing Centre on Tuesday. Picture: NCA NewsWire / Christian Gilles

The fomer UTS professor. Picture: NCA NewsWire / Christian Gilles

Jolley, who is standing trial in the NSW District Court, has pleaded not guilty and maintains she was a victim of a hate campaign between August 2019 and January 2020.

On Tuesday, the court was told Jolley became sick two times in July — even fainting on one occasion during a school speech — in a ploy to pretend she had been poisoned.

She received a letter on July 31, which said: “You are so ignorant. I made you sick on the 4/7 and more sick on the 23/7. You have no idea what can happen. You can prevent it.”

When police came to investigate, Jolley said she had a meeting and could not stay, the court heard.

On Tuesday, Crown Prosecutor Roger Kimbell put it to Jolley that she was not concerned, because she had penned the letter.

He asked: “You wanted to make UTS believe that you were a victim didn’t you?”

“That’s not correct,” Jolley responded.

He also accused Jolley of staging an elaborate break-in at her Seaforth home on September 16, 2019, by cutting up a pile of her clothes worth $2000, which she said were hanging outside her home overnight.

“Someone came to my home and vandalised my clothes while my son slept ten metres away. I felt violated,” Jolley told the court.

Personal items were stolen including a Cue designer suit, an overcoat, five pairs of underwear and six bras, she told the court.

And the intruder wrote a threatening letter, left on her car windscreen which read: “I know where you live”.

She was gifted a voucher from UTS to reimburse her for the stolen items, the court heard.

Mr Kimbell asked why she hung so many clothes on the line that night.

She told the court she was airing out items which had been in storage from her move five months earlier.

“There were never any items stolen were they?” Mr Kimbell asked.

“Yes there were,” Jolley responded.

Jolley received more letters in the following month including two letters containing her stolen red and green knickers.

Mr Kimbell told the court it was unlikely Jolley would have travelled to China on a work trip on August 31, 2019, if she had received a letter she said she was sent threatening a visit from the Chinese Mafia.

Mr Kimbell also told the court Jolley feared police were on her tail when an officer emailed to tell her they were close to charging someone.

She responded: “Wow, this is good news. Is it normal to feel both excited and anxious to find out who it is?”

Jolley told the court she was anxious a colleague was responsible, and “didn’t want it to be someone I trusted”.

She admitted she sent one of the 11 letters to herself on September 13, 2019, claiming she did it to be fired because she could not handle the ongoing threats.

But Mr Kimbell said she was caught “red handed” on CCTV writing the letter in her office and did not know she was being filmed.

Jolley pleaded not guilty to 10 counts of conveying information likely to make a person fear for the safety of another person and dishonestly causing a financial disadvantage.

She was found not guilty on nine additional charges on Monday.

On Wednesday the court will hear closing statements.

The jury is expected to convene to discuss a verdict on Monday morning.