Bungle 'an absolute disgrace'

From: AAP
April 27, 2006

Mix-up ... Pte Kovco with his wife on the day he left for Iraq. RELATIVES of the first Australian soldier to die in Iraq have slammed the Prime Minister for the bungle which saw the wrong body returned to Australia.

The comments came as John Howard admitted he felt "desperately sorry" for the family and friends of Private Jake Kovco.
Private contractors are being blamed for the mistake which resulted in another soldier's body being flown to Australia.

Your say: Share your thoughts

The 25-year-old's body was due to arrive at Melbourne airport early today ahead of a funeral with full military honours, but someone else's body was flown from Kuwait instead.

"It's an absolute disgrace them losing the coffin. They promised that he would have someone with him all the time," Pte Kovco's cousin Adam Backman told Southern Cross Radio.

"It's shocking. It's a disgrace. The Government and the Australian army should be ashamed of themselves.

"John Howard, you're nothing but a shocker."

Mr Howard said he felt "desperately sorry" for what had happened to the family.

The Prime Minister spoke to Shelley Kovco after Defence Minister Brendan Nelson briefed her on the mistake last night.

"She was very distressed, she was very angry, she was very upset, and all of that is totally understandable," he said.

"To have this additional, painful unexpected aggravation is really more than you can expect anyone to bear, and I fully understood how she felt.

"She said she was very angry about it and she said she wanted everything done to try and get her husband's body home as soon as possible.

"I understand that. I think people in a situation like that have a perfect right to feel angry and upset, it's just one of those incredibly unfortunate things."

Mr Howard said the Government was doing its "level best" to resolve the matter but he said no blame could be laid at the feet of the army for the mix-up.

"Criticism oughtn't to be sheeted home to any of Private Kovco's army mates, and it does appear there was a mistake made when the body was in the civilian mortuary in Kuwait," he said.

Pte Kovco's mother Judy has also spoken of her heartbreak over the events at Melbourne Airport, when the bungle became apparent.

"I was waiting for my son to walk through the door," she told a Melbourne newspaper.

"I wake up each morning thinking it was a nightmare. I was just devastated my boy wasn't walking through that door. I realised he wasn't going to come through there."

Mr Backman said the family was also angry that the public had been told Pte Kovco had shot himself accidentally.

"The things in the paper about him accidentally shooting himself, we all knew in our family that he did not do that," Mr Backman said.

The private company responsible for shipping the body home said today it was still unsure how the mistake occurred.

Kenyon International has been involved in the recovery of bodies from more than 300 disasters during its 75-year history.

US-based spokesperson Mario Gomez told ABC Radio the company was trying to piece together details on what had happened.

"We're still just working with officials to determine what happened, but we're just trying to maintain focus on trying to help the family" he said.

Mr Gomez said he did not know the identity of the body that was mistakenly sent to Australia in Private Kovco's place, although the Government said it appeared to be a soldier from an eastern European nation.

Link Here

Defence boss denies cover-up

DEFENCE chief Air Chief Marshal Angus Houston has denied any cover-up in the death of Private Jake Kovco in Iraq, after new questions were raised about the circumstances of the accidental shooting.

The Government said today the soldier wasn't cleaning his weapon when he was fatally shot in Baghdad on Friday - apparently contradicting an explanation immediately after his death.
The comments came as the family expressed their disbelief in the claim that Pte Kovco - the first Australian soldier to die in Iraq - had accidentally shot himself.

The family's ordeal has been made worse by the discovery that the body of another soldier, believed to be Bosnian, was contained in the casket which arrived in Melbourne from Kuwait this morning.

Pte Kovco's mother told The Age newspaper in Melbourne that the family were at a complete loss to explain the accident.

"He didn't know just guns from the army, my son was a deer hunter and has been from a young age," Judy Kovco said.

"You could put a blindfold on him (and) he could dismantle a gun and put it together again without even looking at it," she said.

"He didn't shoot himself. The gun went off. It was near him, it was nearby. What did Jake do - put his head down near the table so it could shoot him in the head, did he?"

After last Friday's shooting, Defence Minister Brendan Nelson said Private Kovco was maintaining his gun when it discharged, fatally wounding him.

But today Dr Nelson said:"He wasn't in fact cleaning his weapon."

Air Chief Marshal Houston said he did not want to canvass the circumstances in which Pte Kovco was shot with his own Browning pistol.

But he said Defence had conducted a quick assessment of the causes of death which confirmed it appeared to be a tragic accident.

"We are now preparing the terms of reference and assembling the right sort of people to conduct the board of inquiry," he said.

"We will get to the bottom of what happened. After the report is published, we will consult with the next of kin before we share the findings with you," Air Chief Marshal Houston said.

Mrs Kovco was unconvinced, saying she had rung her son's commanding officer this morning.

"I said 'tell me the truth - you're the only one I've spoken to that's human. Tell me the truth'," she said.

Both Defence and the Government have described what happened to Private Kovco as a tragic accident but explanations as to what happened have changed.

"I'm advised that the soldier was simply handling his weapon, and maintaining it as soldiers are required to do, and for some unexplained reason, the firearm discharged, and a bullet unfortunately entered the soldier's head, and several hours after the injury, despite receiving the best of medical care, he unfortunately passed away," Dr Nelson said on Saturday.

It later emerged that the accident occurred in the soldier's accommodation room in Baghdad and that two other soldiers were present at the time.

"He had returned to his room with two of his mates. They had been out on patrol. He was doing something other than handling his firearm and in the process of fiddling about with the other equipment he had, it would appear, that in some way he's knocked his gun and it's discharged," Dr Nelson said today.

"There is no suggestion it was anything other than an accident."

Air Chief Marshal Houston said it appeared the other two people in the room were not looking at Pte Kovco when the gun discharged.

"Essentially when they looked up he had clearly been shot," he said.

Pte Kovco's cousin Adam Backman said the family was angry that the public had been told their relative had shot himself accidentally.

"The things in the paper about him accidentally shooting himself, we all knew in our family that he did not do that," Mr Backman said on Southern Cross Radio. "We need closure to this".

Defence commentator John Hunter Farrell, publisher of the ANZ Defender magazine, said the Browning had no history of safety problems.

"It is a weapon with a great reputation, even if ADF stocks are a little old," he said.

"While the Browning is an old design, it has withstood the test of time. It has an easily accessible safety catch that requires deliberate manipulation, no protrusions or other complicating factors that can make some handguns dangerous.

"But all handguns are intrinsically more dangerous than rifles and the handling of them requires an extra level of care."

Link Here