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Dianne Jolley leaving the Downing Centre , Sydney . Picture : NCA NewsWire /
James Gourley
‘ Bad judgment calls ’
CCTV of moment ex-uni dean Dianne Jolley found threatening letters played in court .
NCA NewsWire
An ex-senior academic accused of fabricating a harassment campaign against herself confessed she ’ d been “ naughty ” in a phone call intercepted by police , a court has heard .
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 series of threatening letters in 2019 and 2020 .
Ms Jolley , 51 , is accused of sending herself 11 letters carrying grim warnings , and eight notes to her colleagues , amid the university ’ s review into the viability of a Chinese medicine course in her faculty .
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 .
The court has heard the university spent more than $ 127,000 in personal protection for Ms Jolley due to safety fears sparked by the notes .
The Downing Centre District Court heard a recording of a phone call between the researcher and her assistant Doreen Borg from November 16 , 2019 .
It was the day after Ms Jolley was arrested by police and she told Ms Borg she had been cracking under pressure from work and the ongoing threats against her .
She went on to say she made “ some bad judgment calls ."
“ The thing that scares me is that I ’ ve been naughty twice and now I ’ m going to be accused of everything … there ’ s still some people out there doing the wrong thing ,” Ms Jolley said .
“ I don ’ t think they ’ re gonna give me my job back though . Because you don ’ t make those two mistakes .”
Earlier the jury was played two CCTV recordings from Ms Jolley ’ s home and office respectively , showing her finding two of the letters .
Prosecutors allege the researcher penned the letters before staging their discoveries .
The first video played to the jury , from October 11 , 2019 , showed Ms Jolley walking down the driveway of and across the road from her south Sydney home , appearing to be empty-handed .
She returns sometime later , clutching a bundle of paper items , including a rolled up newspaper and what appears to be a catalogue .
The video did not show where the researcher obtained the bundle .
Ms Jolley was shown to throw the newspaper in the bin and place the remaining items on a glass table on the veranda .
A man with a ladder later arrives at the home and is shown in the footage speaking with Ms Jolley on the veranda for some time , before her husband pulls up in the driveway .
While the two men speak , Ms Jolley is shown rummaging through the bundle and pulling out a piece of paper , which she scrolls up and begins throwing to her dog . Crown prosecutor Roger Kimbell said in his opening address to the jury that the paper she was seen throwing was allegedly the envelope of a threatening letter she claimed to have been sent .
The letter , which the Crown alleges Ms Jolley sent herself , read : “ I KNOW WHERE YOU WORK , I KNOW WHERE YOU LIVE , I KNOW WHAT YOU WEAR .”
In the footage , Ms Jolley throws the ball of paper eight times , patting the border collie on each occasion it returns the makeshift toy .
After the man leaves and her husband goes inside , Ms Jolley returns to the veranda and unfurls the catalogue and recoils as she finds the letter .
She drops it on the ground before her husband comes outside to comfort her and takes a photograph of the note .
Ms Jolley then places the letter and scrunched up paper , which she had allegedly been throwing to her dog , in a brown police forensic bag and takes it inside .
In the second video , taken at UTS headquarters on Broadway on November 13 , 2019 , Ms Jolley is seen to arrive at her desk and begin typing away at a laptop .
She later walks from her glass-walled office and down a hallway , before returning with a piece of paper held gingerly between her forefinger and thumb .
After showing it to her assistant , she takes the sheet of paper into her office and photographs it with her mobile phone .
Mr Kimbell told the court Ms Jolley reported to security that she found a note on the printer reading : “ Dianne , we have removed a dean before and we can do it again . You don ’ t belong here . Either you leave or we will do it .”
He said Ms Jolley ’ s computer was traced to printing two documents at the office that day .
The academic was arrested by police at her office two days later . ■
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