Soldier’s death may be reinvestigated
The handling of this Aussie soldier’s death was plagued by shocking mistakes and now another stumbling block has come to light.
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A coroner will consider reopening the investigation into a soldier’s shooting following bombshell reports from news.com.au – after his widow waited nearly two years to hear back about his death.
Jacob “Jake” Kovco died in Iraq from a gunshot wound in 2006, shot in the head by his own pistol inside barracks, making him the first Australian soldier killed in the conflict.
A military board of inquiry and subsequent coronial inquest questioned whether someone else could have pulled the trigger. Both ultimately concluded the 25-year-old dad-of-two died from “skylarking” with his gun and accidentally shot himself.
But news.com.au exposed earlier this week shocking allegations that another soldier who served in Iraq has since allegedly made “confessions” to three separate people claiming he killed Kovco.
Kovco’s widow, Shelley Kelsey, 49, learnt of the new claims about 18 months ago and wrote to the NSW State Coroner’s Office in June 2023. She asked them to reinvestigate her husband’s case, saying the new claims could “change the outcome of the coronial inquest”.
On Wednesday, in the wake of our reporting, the NSW Coroner’s Court revealed they could find “no record of receiving” Ms Kelsey’s 2023 application.
After being re-sent her original email, the court said “this will be placed before the State Coroner for consideration”.
The handling of Kovco’s death was plagued by mistakes including the Australian Defence Force sending home the wrong body to his grieving family. Then a report into how this mistake had happened was left behind at a Qantas club and ended up in the hands of a journalist.
Do you know more or have a similar story? Contact alex.turner-cohen@news.com.au
This is the latest stumbling block, nearly 20 years on.
“The court now has a copy of Ms Kelsey’s application to the State Coroner to consider the new evidence,” a spokesperson for the NSW Coroner’s Court told news.com.au.
“This will be placed before the State Coroner for consideration and advice will be provided to Ms Kelsey once a determination is made.”
Shelley, and her and Kovco’s two children, Alana and Tyrie, hope this means the new claims will be properly investigated.
“I understand the coroner has finally received my request to reopen Jake’s case. Tyrie, Alana and I look forward to hearing from them, and hoping for a positive outcome,” she said.
In her request to the coroner, shared with news.com.au, Shelley wrote, among other things: “I believe the inquiry needs to be reopened and explored further as this information was not presented at (the) time.”
She previously told news.com.au the soldier’s alleged confession “100 per cent needs to be investigated” and that she had “done everything I can” to try to get answers and kickstart some action.
“Now it’s up to someone to look into it further, investigate it properly, to get the answers we need for us.”
It comes as authorities and the government have refused to investigate the news claims.
Two people made statements to the military police in 2022 about the soldier’s alleged confessions but in 2023, Deputy Prime Minister Richard Marles, the current Defence Minister, told the Kovco family they would not be reinvestigating as “no new information” had been provided.
The new claims about Kovco’s death comes from Tim Weir, a decorated ex-lance corporal, who says another soldier told him some years ago that he had killed Kovco.
Weir, who would later be awarded a soldier’s medallion for his service in Afghanistan, made a statement to the Joint Military Police in 2022 about the alleged “odd” conversation.
“Oh, I killed Kovco,” the soldier allegedly told him out of the blue.
The alleged “confessor” said he shot Kovco then jumped out of a window, according to Weir.
The accused soldier allegedly made two separate “confessions” to two other soldiers, Weir said in his statement. One man gave a statement to police but news.com.au has not obtained it and so can’t corroborate those claims.
Both men did not want to comment when news.com.au contacted them and did not confirm or deny that such a conversation occurred.
Weir left the army in 2017 and spent years trying to get military and civilian authorities to investigate before deciding to go public with the bombshell allegations.
He told news.com.au there’s a lot of “talking sh*t” in the military but “we never joke about killing Australian soldiers or killing our own. Because that, to us, is the worst situation,” he explained.
“The worst outcome of our job is we lose a mate and that’s embedded into us as the worst-case scenario.
“Well, which I thought at that time, but now the worst-case scenario is killing one of our own.”
Weir left the army in 2017 and he has come forward now only after attempting to have this investigated by the military police, government and civilian police.
He says he felt his claims were brushed aside and no-one was interested in taking the alleged confession seriously.
Shelley is calling for Weir’s claims about her husband’s death to be investigated and said it’s not a case of her being “the grieving widow that’s never accepted the answer”.
Both she and her children want these new claims properly investigated – which they don’t believe has happened yet.
She contacted her local member, Darren Chester, who passed on a disappointing response from the Defence Minister and Deputy Prime Minister, Richard Marles, in 2023.
“The Special Investigations team within the AFP assessed the letter and decided that no further action was to be taken based on information provided and previous investigations,” Mr Marles wrote in the letter shared with Shelley.
“As Mr Weir has provided no new information, this correspondence does not warrant the Joint Military Police Unit and the AFP reinvestigating the matter.
“I also directed Defence to provide me with background on Private Kovco’s death. I have since learnt that this was subject to an Australian Defence Board of Inquiry (2006) and a NSW Coronial Inquest (2008). Both found Private Kovco died as the result of a self-inflicted gunshot wound.
“I trust this information is sufficient to assure that steps have been taken to address the claims made by Mr Weir.”
But it’s not sufficient in Shelley’s eyes.
“I don’t think anything is being taken seriously,” she said.
“I haven’t received any proof that anything has been investigated. I don’t know what they’ve done. What have they actually done?”
Two men were in the room at the time Jake Kovco pulled the trigger and she said she doesn’t believe either of them has been asked about the new claims.
“To me that would be the first thing you do,” she said.
The two other men who shared a room with the dead soldier, Rob Shore and Ray Johnson, claimed in the board of inquiry and coronial inquest they were both looking away at the moment Kovco pulled the trigger.
News.com.au has contacted both for comment. Neither is the man who allegedly made the confessions to killing Kovco and neither are accused of any wrongdoing.
The angle of the gun also raised questions at the time Kovco’s death was first investigated.
Frank Holles, the lawyer who represented Kovco’s mother Judy in the board of inquiry, said the angle of the bullet didn’t make sense.
“Every other single suicide I’ve seen in my career – and I’ve done hundreds of them – has been either a pistol round into the side of the head, the temple, or up through the mouth into the brain that way,” Holles said, recalling the case to news.com.au years later.
But he said in this case, the entry wound was near Kovco’s ear but the bullet exited from the top of his head.
Evidence tendered to the board of inquiry at the time suggested that Kovco’s pistol was hanging from his bedpost.
Holles suggested this meant it could have been possible for someone to storm into the room, grab it and shoot it.
“He (the alleged confessor) picked up the pistol expecting it to be unloaded, stuck it in Jake’s head and pulled the trigger not expecting it to go bang.”
Pte Johnson, one of the two roommates, also later testified that loose gunplay was common among the soldiers serving at the Australian embassy in Iraq.
“I’ve seen people pointing their pistols at others and pulling the trigger. I’ve always seen this as inappropriate and told people not to do it,” he told the inquiry.
A spokesperson for Deputy Prime Minister Richard Marles reiterated his statement to the Kovco family and referred news.com.au to the AFP.
“In 2023, the Deputy Prime Minister, in his capacity as Minister for Defence received correspondence on behalf of the family of Jake Kovco from the local member,” they said.
“The correspondence drew the historical matter to the Minister’s attention. The Minister subsequently requested the Department of Defence to provide advice. The Minister also sought additional information in relation to the investigation and requested the letter be forwarded to the Australian Federal Police.
“The Minister was subsequently advised that the referral to the AFP did not provide any further avenues that could be pursued and the investigation had been closed.
“At the conclusion of this process, the Minister wrote to the local member, outlining the steps he had taken and the advice he had been provided.”
The AFP declined to comment, while NSW Police only made references to the 2006 board of inquiry.
A spokesperson for the Department of Defence said they had already conducted an in depth inquiry into Jacob Kovco’s death through the military board of inquiry.
alex.turner-cohen@news.com.au
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