Academic Dianne Jolley makes stunning admission in fake harassment trial

The Sydney academic accused of sending threatening letters to herself and her colleagues has made a stunning admission as she gave evidence at her trial.

A senior academic accused of sending herself a series of threatening letters in a fake harassment campaign has made a stunning admission that she penned one of the notes.

Dianne Jolley is standing trial in Sydney’s Downing Centre District Court where she has pleaded not guilty to a long string of charges over a series of letters, notes and cards sent to herself and University of Technology Sydney colleagues.

Ms Jolley, 51, scored an important victory on Monday when she was found not guilty of nine charges after Judge Ian Bourke directed the jury to acquit her of a host of counts.

They related to six counts of conveying false information likely to make a person fear for their safety, as well as three counts of sending a letter to induce a false belief that the letter was likely to be a danger.

She is still facing another 11 charges - causing financial disadvantage by deception and 10 counts of conveying information likely to make a person fear for their safety - to which she has pleaded not guilty.

Despite her not guilty plea, the former University of Technology Sydney dean of science on Monday admitted to the jury she was responsible for one of the letters, which was discovered in the tray of a printer at her UTS office in November 2019.

She told the jury that it was the only letter for which she was responsible, explaining that she was attempting to get out of her $320,000-a-year contract after being worn down by a series of real threatening letters and incidents perpetrated by someone else.

Dianne Jolley has denied penning a series of letters, notes and cards to herself and a University of Technology Sydney colleague. Picture: NCA NewsWire/Christian Gilles

The court heard that at the time, Ms Jolley was attempting to cut the traditional Chinese medicine course from the science faculty but faced resistance.

Ms Jolley said that when she took up her post at UTS in December 2018, the university was already considering cutting the course and facing pushback from some members of the community.

She claims that the day prior to printing the one letter she was responsible for, she had overheard people talking about her and a plan to remove her from her job.

“I sat there and I started to type, I didn’t know what I was going to type and I remembered the threat I received the day before,” she said.

“So I started to type that up.

“It was hard, I didn’t want to because I loved my job.

“I had to put my family first. I typed it up, I went to the printer, I collected the other notes I needed for the meeting.”

The letter read: “Dianne. We have removed a Dean before and we can do it again. You don’t belong here. You are not wanted here.

“Either you leave or we will do it.”

The fake letter which former UTS academic Dianne Jolley has admitted she penned. Photo: Supplied via NCA NewsWire

She claimed that at the time, she was fearful for her safety and that of her family including her two children.

Ms Jolley explained that after reviewing her contract, she had decided that the only way to get out of her job was to incur a misconduct charge, which would result in her being fired.

CCTV - which had been recently installed as an added security measure after she received a series of threats - captured her printing out the page.

But she repeatedly said she was “horrified” after receiving the other letters.

The crown has alleged that her fingerprint was found on one of the other letters, and she told the jury on Monday she was at a loss to explain how it got there.

“I didn’t do it, I didn’t do it,” she said.

“I don’t have an answer for it, I didn’t do it. I don’t know if it is actually my fingerprint. I don’t know.”

One of the letters allegedly sent by former dean of science at the University of Technology Sydney as part of a fake harassment campaign. Picture: Supplied

In evidence, she said she had been confronted in public by angry members of the Chinese community before the campaign of harassment began.

She said she received a handwritten letter in June 2019 in which the anonymous author threatened to give her photo to “the Chinese mafia”.

However, she discarded the letter because she believed it was someone venting their anger, but the threats soon turned more serious.

The first of the letters for which she is charged is alleged to have been sent on July 31, 2019, and read: “Chop our future, we chop yours.”

UTS paid for CCTV to be installed in and around her office, and at her home, and she was assigned a personal security detail.

Dianne Jolley has told a jury that she received a threatening letter in which someone claimed they would send her picture to the ‘Chinese mafia’. Picture: NCA NewsWire/Jeremy Piper.

She said on Monday that she was also told not to go shopping alone, made to be accompanied by a security guard on her train ride to and from work, told to stop jogging and given a personal alarm system.

She claims that on one occasion she went into her backyard to find that someone had cut a duck down puffer jacket which was hanging on the washing line and left one of the notes.

She further claimed that the unknown person had stolen a pair of her underwear and mailed it to her UTS office.

“I felt violated, someone had not only harassed me while going to and from work, harassed me at my workplace, and now they had come to my home and that affected my family,” she said.

“It was very hard - I was very concerned for the safety of my children.”

The trial before Judge Bourke continues.