Daily Mail: Buddhist monk 'cut into pieces' after being run over by his own lawnmower at Milton Keynes temple
A monk was cut into pieces when he was run over by his own lawnmower as he trimmed the grass at a convent, an inquest jury has been told. Moments before his horrific death, the 50-year-old reverend was seen running after the driver-less machine as it set off without him in the 12-acre grounds of a peace temple. A coroner heard that 10 years earlier, the Rev. Seiji Handa had suffered another nasty experience with a mower, when three of his fingers were chopped off...Venita Slater said she had spotted the Rev. Handa chasing the heavy machinery as it pulled away from him while he was out mowing lawns at the peace temple. She said the monk was dragged underneath the sharp blades of the trailer as he tried to get into the cab and regain control of it. The mother-of-two added: "The tractor was running away and he was chasing it to stop it. But unfortunately he didn't...I ran over to see if he was okay, but unfortunately he was not okay"...Rev. Handa was in charge of maintenance of the tractor and was also responsible for cutting the grass in the grounds of the convent. The jury heard that he was born in Japan and became a Buddhist monk at the age of 21...He arrived in Milton Keynes in the winter of 1978 and built a temple with the help of nuns and a large army of volunteers...more...
