Bowls Can Get You Out On Bail!

We’ve all watched those TV shows and movies where an accused person has their bail set at one million, or a couple hundred thousand. But if you’re facing serious charges yourself, you don’t have to worry about coming up with this huge sum of money. Apparently, all you have to do is tell a judge that you’re in a lawn bowling tournament, and they’ll let you walk. Well, maybe not ‘walk’ completely free of all charges, but at least you’ll be free enough to participate in the great game of bowls. This is exactly what happened to one teenager this month.

That teenager is Joshua Larry Boyd, who was charged along with four other young people, for assault and unlawful assembly. There aren’t a lot of details on what exactly Boyd did that deserved the charges, or even what his punishment was. It actually seems as though the young man wasn’t sentenced to prison at all, but he was given a very strict curfew by the judge, and severe penalties would be dealt should he refuse to meet these requirements. That was until, a couple of weeks ago when Boyd’s lawyer appeared in court and asked a judge to review the curfew that had been placed on Boyd and to ultimately, remove it so that Boyd could participate in a lawn bowls tournament in Dunedin on Boxing Day. The court granted the removal of the curfew for the specified date and allowed him to enter lawn bowling clubs, but he is not allowed to consume alcohol while on the premises.

So there’s one more good thing about lawn bowling – it could get you out of an uncomfortable situation, as long as you keep participating in tournaments!