Jacob Bruce "Jake" Kovco (25 September 1980 – 21 April 2006) was a private in the Australian Army who was killed while deployed to Iraq, fatally wounded by a single shot to the head from his own Browning 9mm sidearm.

This conclusion was disputed by his family and on 2 April 2008, a second inquest returned a similar verdict, finding that his death was "irresponsibly self-inflicted", and that when he pulled his gun's trigger he "disregarded the possible consequences of danger".

It was initially reported by Australian Defence Minister, Brendan Nelson,[4] that Kovco had shot himself accidentally while cleaning his weapon, a Browning Hi-Power Mk.

[citation needed] Although the ADF refused to respond officially pending inquiries, a "senior military source" said Kovco was "emailing when the gun fired", and that it appeared the computer had slipped off his lap and landed on the pistol, causing it to discharge.

[14] Sinanovic's death was investigated by Victorian coroner Graeme Johnstone, and his body was returned to Kuwait and the care of his former employers Kellogg, Brown and Root on 11 May.

[15] Continued delays in repatriating Sinanovic's body to his home village outside Tuzla led to the involvement on 17 May of Australian Prime Minister John Howard, who undertook to "see if there is anything we can do".

The coffin was met by Kovco's widow, Shelley, his children, parents Judy and Martin, other family members, and an honour guard of 300 3rd Battalion personnel wearing black armbands and dress uniform.

[21] A military board of inquiry, headed by former NSW coroner, Group Captain Warren Cook, and including former Queensland police commissioner Jim O'Sullivan and Colonel Michael Charles, was established to be conducted out of Sydney's Victoria Barracks,[22] and Brigadier Elizabeth Cosson was appointed to investigate the repatriation.

The opening statement of council assisting Colonel Michael Griffin – via video link from Baghdad – included the revelation that on 21 March, just 14 days into his tour of duty, Private Kovko had dreamt of and written in his journal about his death by a shot to the head from his own pistol:[23] Kovco went on to write that night that he was not suicidal, but believed the dream was a premonition.

[25]On 1 December 2006, Defence Chief Angus Houston announced that the board of inquiry had determined that Kovco died as a result of the inappropriate handling of his personal weapon while engaging in skylarking behaviour.

The former president of the New South Wales Vietnam Veterans Association, Barry Billing, criticised the inclusion on the grounds that Kovco did not die as a result of hostile action.

[29] The inclusion was consistent with standard practice, however, as the names of all members of the Australian military who have died as the result of service in a war zone are included on the Roll of Honor without regard to their cause of death.

[30] On 15 May 2006, a CD-ROM containing a confidential draft copy of the Defence Department's report detailing the body repatriation "bungle" was accidentally left in the drive of an airline lounge computer at Melbourne Airport by the investigating officer, Brigadier Elizabeth Cosson.

Subsequently, Melbourne radio journalist Derryn Hinch, who claims to have received the CD from the person who found it, broadcast some of the details of the report: [Brigadier Cosson] said "[T]he chain of custody was uncontrolled and vulnerable to failure, we can't find out who decided and we didn't know this was going to happen, that his body should be placed on a commercial flight" [...] And her words they, the military, "lost control, they lost contact with the body"[31]"I'm deeply embarrassed about it and I deeply regret the circumstances," Air Chief Marshal Houston told a conference on 17 May,[32] and appealed to the media to treat the material sensitively.

[35] Before the verdict was handed down, counsel assisting the coroner, John Agius, told the jury the theory that Kovco had been shot by another soldier was "no more than the last grasp of a loving mother who cannot bring herself to accept that her son was less than perfect".