KEY POINTS:
Patricia Sutton thought she was doing the responsible thing.
When the 84-year-old noticed police were outside her Christchurch home yesterday morning investigating a car crash, she saw a perfect opportunity to get rid of a World War II souvenir that had sat in her home since her late husband brought it back with him on a hospital ship from Europe in 1944.
She approached one of the officers, led him into her garage, where police said she "fossicked around", turned and plonked a grenade into the officer's hand.
Thinking that was the end of it, Mrs Sutton went out walking.
When she returned to her street in Fendalton, she was stunned to see it cordoned off and several more police cars had converged.
"I got such a shock when I came around the corner and they told me I couldn't go down the street. I had no idea what it was."
A police officer standing at the cordon told her a grenade had been found.
Mrs Sutton told the officer: "That's at my house."
The police officer who had taken the grenade from Mrs Sutton had placed it behind a brick alcove at her home and waited for an Army bomb disposal expert to be called in.
After inspection, the grenade was found to be safe. It was live, but did not have a detonator attached.
If detonated, it could have spread shrapnel out to 30 or 40 metres.
Mrs Sutton said her family had never thought of the grenade as dangerous and she was embarrassed at the fuss it had caused.
"I didn't think it would go off because it's very old. But I wouldn't put it in a rubbish bin or anything".
