Kovco - stranger and stranger

The circumstances of Pte Jake Kovco’s death in Baghdad earlier this year are very muddied and may remain so as it seems to be proving very difficult to establish any real facts. The military commanders and investigators have not exactly covered themselves in glory. The room in which Kovco died was not secured properly, evidence was moved, and the room itself cleaned before proper blood samples could be taken, and there were significant delays in obtaining witness statements.

The initial versions of events suggested he accidentally shot himself in the head while cleaning his gun, then somehow caused it to fire when he dropped his laptop on it while standing next to his bunk bed. Now forensic evidence suggests he was shot while standing in the middle of the room facing the back window. Then we have evidence of some unknown person’s DNA on the pistol, including on the slide, grip and trigger. NSW Police now investigating the death are going back to Baghdad to take further samples - bet thats an assignment everyone’s putting their hand up for. Other evidence suggests the gun was fired from no more than 2 inches from Kovco’s head.

All very strange. And why was the initial investigation, not to mention the return of his body to Australia, so badly botched? Is it merely incompetence, or some intent to cover up the circumstances of his death by muddying things so much that it is impossible to prove anything definitively?

In other news from the Middle East and involving Defence, they are sending 80 people to Beirut to help co-ordinate the evacuation of Australians stuck in Lebanon. With their track record, they’ll probably end up shipping them to Iraq or Afghanistan or some shithole like that.

Update (21/7/2006): I think the odds are firming that it was a suicide.

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