Over the past few decades, some Balclutha residents have tried to disrupt court sittings.
In the mid-1970s, a Balclutha man tried to blow up the courthouse.
Senior Constable Tom Taylor, who was not a police officer at the time but who recalled the incident, said the Balclutha man was unhappy with his dealings with the court and put dynamite or gelignite against one of the courthouse's walls.
The courthouse was empty at the time, and the explosion only burned a hole in the grass, he said.
More recent attempts to disrupt court sittings turned out to be hoaxes.
In 2009, someone made a hoax bomb threat that forced the evacuation of the courthouse.
At 10.25am, on September 8, 2009, the court sitting was adjourned and police ordered out the 100 people in the building.
Nothing suspicious was found and court resumed after 30 minutes. No-one was ever charged.
Two years later, a Balclutha woman made a similar hoax call, in an attempt to prevent her partner going to jail, but ended up in jail herself.
She made the hoax 111 call at about 6am on October 17, 2011 stating a bomb would go off at the courthouse at noon that day. She was on bail for other charges at the time.
The woman was found and appeared in court that day. Prosecutor Sergeant Glen McMurdo said she made the call to stop her partner from going to jail. Police found nothing suspicious and the woman got two months' prison.
