The daughter-in-law of British billionaire Lord Michael Ashcroft has been locked up and charged in the mysterious shooting death of a Belize police officer following a purported night of heavy drinking and a shoulder massage.
Jasmine Hartin, the longtime spouse of Ashcroft’s son Andrew, was charged with manslaughter by negligence after police found her with blood on her clothing and arms near a dock where Henry Jemmott’s lifeless body laid. Hartin told police she shot the 42-year-old police superintendent in the head with his own service weapon by mistake. Both were out past the island’s curfew.
While the exact details of the incident remain murky, Hartin, a Canadian socialite, told police she “invited the veteran officer to her apartment where the pair drank and discussed her personal security,” the Daily Mail reported.
The pair then walked to a nearby deserted dock, where Jemmott, a father of five, allegedly complained about his shoulder hurting. Hartin offered to give him a massage. During the late-night shoulder rub, Jemmott placed his service weapon on the dock. When Hartin picked it back up to pass it to Jemmott, the gun went off.
Firearms experts, though, have seemed to contradict Hartin’s narrative. The Sun reported that experts said Jemmott’s gun, a Glock 9 mm pistol, would have had a built-in bar over the trigger to prevent “accidental discharge.”
Police Commissioner Chester Williams said Hartin, a mother of two, was found “in an emotional state” on the pier. Jemmott’s body was floating in the water.
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“They are friends,” Williams said during a press conference. “From what we have been made to understand, they were drinking. From investigation, they were alone on the pier, and yes, they were both fully clothed.”
Hartin was taken into custody and spent four days in a tiny concrete cell in the town of San Pedro. She was charged with manslaughter by negligence.
Jemmott’s sister told 7 News Belize, a local television channel, that the family was disheartened that Hartin wasn’t charged with murder and suggested Hartin’s family ties and privileged background led to special treatment.
The punishment for manslaughter under the Belizean criminal justice system is up to 25 years in prison.
Hartin, however, is facing only five years. She could even avoid prison altogether and just pay a fine, according to the Daily Mail.
Hartin, a Canadian citizen, lives in Belize with her husband. She had previously worked as the lifestyle director for Alaia Belize, the four-diamond luxury resort on Ambergris Caye that her husband helped develop.
Hartin, dressed in pale pink with a drink in her hand, posed for a picture next to her husband at the grand opening of the resort on May 7.
The beachfront property features a piano bar, a live art gallery, a wine club, three restaurants, four bars, and three pools.
Hartin’s father-in-law is worth an estimated $2 billion and was a major donor to the British Conservative Party in the 1980s and 1990s.
Ashcroft has spent lavishly in Belize. He paid for the police department’s gym and has donated to numerous other law enforcement causes.
Despite what appears to be a bottomless bank account and friends in high places, Hartin’s lawyer, Godfrey Smith, the former attorney general of Belize, has denied claims that his client is receiving preferential treatment and has pointed to her incarceration as proof.
Prosecutors argued Wednesday that she should remain locked up and fear that she is a “flight risk.”
An appeals court judge hasn’t ruled on whether Hartin could be released on bail but ordered her to remain behind bars until Monday at the earliest to give prosecutors and defense lawyers time to submit their arguments.
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Hartin was not in court for the hearing. She watched via video from Belize Central Prison, which has been cited for its unsanitary conditions and featured on an episode of World’s Toughest Prisons.
The Belize Central Prison houses men, women, and children; it also houses patients who have severe mental illnesses.
There was an outbreak of COVID-19 in the facility in May. Recent reports also claim that the prison is “scorpion infested.” In October, 28 prisoners staged an armed breakout, taking hostages and using “high-powered weapons to stage a mass escape,” the Independent reported.
