Jacob Kovco

Jacob Kovco

Jacob (Jake) Bruce Kovco (25 September 1980, Melbourne – 21 April 2006, Baghdad) was a Private (PTE) in the Australian Army who died while deployed in Iraq, fatally wounded by a single shot to the head from his own Browning 9mm sidearm. PTE Kovco was the first Australian soldier to die while deployed to the Middle East Area of Operations (MEAO). A military inquiry found that Kovco accidentally shot himself while mishandling his pistol, a conclusion which was disputed by his family. On 2 April 2008, a further Coronial inquest returned a similar verdict, finding that Kovco's death was "irresponsibly self-inflicted", and that when he pulled the trigger on his weapon he "disregarded the possible consequences of danger".