A former University of Technology Sydney dean of science has been found guilty of sending fake threatening letters to herself including one which read "chop our future we chop yours".
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Dianne Jolley, formerly an associate professor at the University of Wollongong's school of chemistry, was found guilty of 10 charges of conveying information likely to make a person fear for their safety, knowing that it was misleading, over the material sent to UTS and her home between May and November 2019.
The academic was also found guilty of one charge of causing financial disadvantage by deception to her work, after UTS spent more than $127,000 in security measures protecting her.
The jury delivered their unanimous verdicts in the District Court on Thursday with the judge thanking them for their dedicated deliberations.
Judge Ian Bourke had previously ordered the jury to find Jolley not guilty of nine other charges following a lack of evidence.
In a trial spanning five weeks, the Crown argued the 51-year-old had sent herself the menacing letters to garner sympathy from the faculty as she tried to close down the university's traditional Chinese medicine course.
But her legal team has argued she was the victim in her case.
Jolley has admitted drafting one letter herself, after she was caught on CCTV shortly before her arrest in November 2019, and her fingerprint was found on the sticky side of a postage stamp on another containing her underwear.
She gave evidence she had deliberately been caught writing the final letter so that UTS would dismiss her, saving her a three-month notice period if she resigned.
She denied sending all the other threats.
Her bail is to continue and she will be sentenced at a later date.
Australian Associated Press
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