Buzzin Bizarre

A Buddhist monk was run-over and killed by his lawnmower as he cut the grass at his temple, an inquest has been told.

The Rev Seiji Handa had a another accident with a lawnmower ten years previously in which he lost three of his fingers .

Witness, Venita Slater told the jury that she had found the body of Mr Handa in pieces after he fell under the sharp blades of the tractor-driven mower at the Peace Pagoda in Milton Keynes. She said that only moments before his death she had seen him chasing after the driver-less mower as it got away from him whilst he was mowing the lawns in the 12-acre grounds of the peace centre that he had set up 30 years ago.

It appears that he was dragged under the blades as he attempted to get into the cab to regain control of the mower she said. His remains were found on a slope after the machine had ran over his entire body, killing him instantly.

At the inquest, the jury was told that Mrs Slater had been out walking with her children in August of last year when she saw Mr Handa in the grounds running after the mower. “The tractor was running away and he was chasing it to stop it. But unfortunately he didn’t. I looked up but he had disappeared. I ran over to see if he was OK, but unfortunately he was not.” When the Emergency services arrived they used a crane to lift the mower off of the body.

At the inquest they were told that they did not know why Mr Handa had got out of the machine while it was still moving. But it is thought that Mr Handa had slipped on wet grass when he tried to jump back into the cab, and then he became caught under the three sets of blades. A Postmortem examination revealed that Mr Handa had died from multiple injuries.

A verdict of accidental death was given by the jury and the Coroner said “It is not wholly clear what happened. Nobody actually saw what happened. Blood and other parts of the body were dragged behind the tractor. He had got out of the cab and desperately tried to get back into the cab. We don’t know why perhaps there was a cutter malfunction in some way. What must have happened was that he tried to get back in but he slipped. He must have slipped on wet grass. It was just an unfortunate accident which was such a great shame.”

However, according to Health and Safety officials the machine should not have been in service. The ratchet on the handbrake was not working and the brakes were not able to hold the tractor steady and the foot-brake also did not work. The only way you could get the tractor to remain stationary was to turn the engine of and leave the machine in gear, it should not have been used.