According to a colleague identified only as ‘Soldier 17’, 26-year-old Private Jake Kovco shot himself with a handgun as they were singing along to ‘Dreams’ in “the best girl’s voice we could”.
“I though he might have done it in a joking fashion because the song we were singing was in a female, homosexual way,” Soldier 17 continued. “Almost as if to say, ‘This is so gay I’d rather be dead’. I have no evidence to support this theory and I didn’t see Private Kovco do it, but it’s the only way I can explain how he shot himself.”
Soldier 17 went on to testify that loose gunplay was commonplace in the Australian Embassy-based unit.
“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.”