UTS professor Diane Jolley jury retires to deliberate fraud verdict
Former UTS professor Dianne Jolley has pleaded not guilty to sending herself a slew of hate mail - including her own stolen knickers.
Police & Courts
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A jury has retired to deliberate on a verdict after hearing arguments in the fraud trial of Sydney professor Dianne Jolley.
The former University of Technology dean of sciences has pleaded not guilty to sending herself a slew of hate mail - including her own stolen knickers - which caused the uni to spend $127,000 on guards and CCTV to protect her.
On Monday in the NSW District Court, Judge Ian Bourke SC summed up the case, reminding the jury they would have to return a unanimous decision on each of the 11 counts.
Judge Bourke recounted each charge, outlining how the Crown argued Jolley wrote 10 threatening letters to herself, staged a home invasion and was an unreliable witness.
The defence argued the Crown’s case was “ridiculous” and the police investigation was flawed, he said.
Judge Bourke said the jury had to be satisfied the Crown had proven three elements in order to find Jolley guilty of causing financial disadvantage by deception.
“Every single element has to be proven,” Judge Bourke told the jury.
These include that Jolley caused a financial loss, that she caused it by acting deceptively and that she knew the information shared was false or misleading.
Jolley admitted to purposefully writing one letter to be fired, but told the court she thought security would see she had written it herself and tell management.
Judge Bourke took the jury to the forensic expert, who told the court Jolley’s fingerprint was found on a letter she denies sending.
The defence said the expert’s evidence was “unreliable” because it was unverified.
The jury was given a screenshot of the fingerprints, but asked not to make their own comparisons.
“It’s not put before you to be fingerprint examiners or make your own comparisons to be satisfied the fingerprints match,” he said.
“(The expert) did not simply look at the images on paper, he was able to zoom in, change contrast and brightness, and invert. He was able to do things you’re not able to do.”
Judge Bourke told the jury they could ask him a question any time during deliberations by writing him a note, before formally retiring the jury at 1pm.
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