Saturday, May 28th, marked one year since the shooting death of Police Superintendent Henry Jemmott at the hands of Jasmine Hartin, the former partner of billionaire Lord Michael Ashcroft’s son Andrew. The Canadian national is facing a Manslaughter by Negligence charge, and after being back and forth in the Magistrate Court, her case has now moved to the Supreme Court for trial. Hartin insists that she did not murder the senior officer, that it was a terrible accident. Over the weekend, Discovery Plus premiered a documentary featuring Hartin, revealing more details on the mysterious incident. Hartin admits to initially lying to authorities when questioned about the tragic incident but insists that she is no murderer, explaining what occurred in the early hours of that morning.
The documentary dubbed ‘One Bullet in Belize’ shows Hartin regretting lying to police after claiming a gunman shot Jemmott in a passing boat. During the interview in the documentary, Hartin admits that was untrue and stated she was in shock when that was said. “I barely remembered what I said, to be honest,” she said. “I regret; I should have probably been honest from the moment, but when you are in that much shock and mental trauma, it doesn’t make sense why I said, I don’t know why I said.”
In her account, Hartin said that in the early hours of May 28th, Jemmott had invited her and her partner Andrew for a drink, but Andrew allegedly decided to have an early night. Hartin accompanied Jemmott for a late-night drink at a nearby dock. According to her, the senior cop wanted her to get acquainted with a gun, as she had been attacked days earlier on the mainland.
Hartin explained that Jemmott was teaching her how to unload and reload his service Glock pistol magazine. “I had the magazine. I was emptying it and reloading it without being in the weapon. It was like a game to see how fast I could go with the magazine and the bullets; take them out and then put them back in. Then when he took the bullets and put them to his left, I had the empty magazine, fully empty, and I popped it in, then I put it down. We were sitting on the side of the dock; both of our feet were over the dock. So, I had the weapon on my right, the bullets to the left of Henry,” said Hartin. She continues by saying that Jemmott mentioned his shoulder was bothering him at some point. She rubbed it for a bit until Jemmott decided he wanted to go back to his room.
Hartin said that it was then that Jemmott asked her to return the gun and the magazine so he could put the bullets inside the clip. “I leaned forward. I picked it up. I’m trying to get the magazine out, I’m still sitting, he’s still sitting,” Hartin explained she was somehow behind Jemmott. “I’m using the moon to see, and I’m pushing to get the magazine out, and it was like it was stuck. I don’t ever remember touching the trigger at all. Next thing I know, the gun goes off.” Hartin said she thought the gun was cleared and had no idea there was apparently a bullet in the chamber. Jemmott was shot behind his right ear. He reportedly fell backward on top of her, bleeding over her before slipping into the sea.
Despite this explanation, Jemmott’s family believes their relative was executed, and they want Hartin to be charged with murder. One of his sisters said that Hartin keeps changing her stories, and it is difficult to know when she is telling the truth. Hartin, however, maintains that the shooting death was a tragic accident.
The 33-year-old mother of twins is currently on bail and has relocated to the neighboring island of Caye Caulker, where she awaits her trial to begin in June. Outside of this incident involving the high-ranking officer, Jasmine Hartin is in a legal battle for the custody of the children she shares with Ashcroft. Hartin lost that battle on May 25th, when the presiding judge at the Family Court in Belize City granted Ashcroft legal custody of the twins. Hartin’s attorney will appeal the decision, while she reportedly has no visitation rights.
