The Canadian socialite and former partner of the son of billionaire and Conservative party grandee Lord Michael Ashcroft has pleaded guilty in a court in Belize to the negligent manslaughter of a police officer.
Jasmine Hartin, 34, who shot and killed police superintendent Henry Jemmott in May 2021 in what she has described as an accidental discharge from Jemmott’s firearm, entered a tearful plea at the nation’s supreme court in Belize City on Tuesday afternoon before the start of a scheduled trial.
Hartin briefly addressed reporters outside the courthouse, stating: “I just want Henry’s family to have peace now and I want this whole thing to be behind all of us so we can heal.”
Speaking to the Guardian, Hartin’s attorney, Orson “OJ” Elrington, said he expected his client would receive “no custodial sentence” while a judge would determine the size of a fine or compensation due to Jemmott’s family at a sentencing next month.
“The law dictates, and not emotion or public sentiment,” Elrington said of the expected non-custodial sentence. “The law dictates what the sentence should be in these matters, and the law is very clear … it is right in line with the law.”
The 2021 incident occurred in the town of San Pedro as Hartin handled Jemmott’s gun while the two drank together on a pier in the evening. Hartin had reportedly been giving Jemmott a shoulder massage when he handed her his gun. After hearing a shot, police rushed to the scene and found Hartin distressed and covered in blood. Jemmott’s body was recovered from the water with a single gunshot wound to the head.
Hartin said in interviews that she and the officer were friends but not in a romantic relationship.
The Canadian was living with Andrew Ashcroft and their two children in Belize at the time, where Lord Ashcroft holds citizenship and a substantial business portfolio. The pair had been involved in the launch of a new luxury hotel in San Pedro at the time of the shooting.
After the incident Andrew Ashcroft obtained custody of the children in 2022 and moved to the Turks and Caicos Islands to launch a new business venture. In a statement he said he had gifted his former partner a 10% stake in the holding company of the new hotel, which he planned to compensate her for.
“I hold no ill will or malice towards Jasmine and wish her well with the court proceedings,” the statement read.
