Canadian socialite Jasmine Hartin was spotted shopping at a fruit stand in Belize days before she was sentenced for shooting dead a local police chief.
Hartin, 34, pleaded guilty to manslaughter last month for accidentally shooting Belizean police officer Henry Jemmott in 2021.
She was seen on May 24 wearing a black dress, straw hat and carrying a plastic bag of apples and bananas ahead of her sentencing on Thursday.
Hartin is the estranged partner of Andrew Ashcroft – the son of British billionaire Lord Michael Ashcroft – with whom she ran a resort in the Central American country.
She said she was sitting on a pier drinking with Jemmott in May 2021 when he pulled out his Glock 17 and handed it to her. Hartin said she lit the gun with moonlight so she could see him properly when he fired a bullet into his head.
Jasmine Hartin, 34, was seen on May 24 wearing a black dress, straw hat and carrying a plastic bag of apples and bananas
Hartin is pictured buying fruit on May 24, a week before he returns to a court in Belize City for sentencing
Hartin was spotted shopping for fresh produce in Belize on May 24, where last month she pleaded guilty to manslaughter in the murder of a local police chief.
Hartin pleaded guilty to manslaughter last month for accidentally shooting Belizean police chief Henry Jemmott (pictured) in 2021. He was 42 when he died
The Belizean courthouse heard during the trial that the legal priority of a guilty plea for the offense in question was not detention but rather a fine.
The judge said he was unlikely to “deviate” from precedent, but warned Hartin at an earlier hearing that he was “not bound” by it.
His appearance on Thursday will come after the judge receives a socio-economic report on Hartin, which will be used to determine the amount of the fine.
Hartin’s voice shook as she stood on the small wooden dock to enter her last-minute plea in the crowded courtroom last month.
Outside court, Hartin said, “I just want Henry’s family to have peace now and I want this all behind us so we can heal.”
The deceased officer’s sisters and daughter were also present in court.
His sister, Cherry Jemmott, told the CBS 48 Hours that his brother would never treat his gun in such a cavalier manner.
“He’s so skillful and he’s so careful,” she said.
A judge told Hartin she was unlikely to receive a custodial sentence and was more likely to be fined
Before she appears in court on Thursday, the judge is expected to have reviewed a report on her economic situation so that an appropriately sized fine can be imposed.
While out on bail before trial, Hartin gave several television interviews in which she insisted the shooting was accidental and that Jemmott was a trusted friend who showed her how to use the gun to get herself. protect after being attacked at a party.
But she said the gun exploded as she tried to hand the magazine to him and a single bullet hit him in the head, causing his body to collapse on top of her.
She said she struggled under his weight and was unable to keep her body from slipping in the water. His body was found in the water off San Pedro, Belize, with a single bullet to the head.
Hartin has always maintained that although she had a few drinks, she was not drunk the night Jemmott was killed.
But her former partner Andrew Ashcroft – Ashcroft’s younger son – claimed the mother of his children was “drinking heavily” before the May 2021 shooting.
In a statement submitted to the court, he claimed she had had up to eight wines and a few shots at a party the night of the incident.
Her attorney, Hubert Elrington, said she paid compensation to Jemmott’s common-law wife and five children, ages seven to 18.
Ashcroft, 45 (left, with Hartin) said in his statement that the two attended a party at the Sunset Lounge until around 11 p.m. on May 28, 2021
Hartin’s former partner Andrew Ashcroft (pictured) is Lord Ashcroft’s younger son. He claimed the mother of his children was ‘drinking a lot’ before the May 2021 shooting
In August last year, she claimed vengeful officers plotted to murder her and disguise her death as a failed escape.
She said at the time that ‘corrupt’ Belize City police unlocked her cell in the middle of the night and waved her to a back door – insisting she was free to go.
Hartin sensed it was a trap and refused to run, telling officers, “I know you’re going to shoot me in the back.”
The alleged incident happened when Hartin was arrested on May 19, 2022, for allegedly staging ‘hits’ on Belize Police Commissioner Chester Williams and a family court magistrate.
She was cleared this week by Williams who admitted there was never a credible threat to himself or Dale Cayetano, who oversaw Hartin’s child custody battle with ex-partner Andrew Ashcroft , the son of Lord Ashcroft.
“They came to me and said, you are free to go. I went out the front door and they said, no, no, no, go out the back door,’ she told the Daily Mail.
“I knew exactly what that meant. The police are notorious in Belize and it is a trick they use. They usually shoot you or re-arrest you and hit you with other charges for trying to escape.
Hartin tearfully left court last month after pleading guilty to negligent manslaughter in Belize City Supreme Court
Pictured is Belize Police Superintendent Henry Jemmott, who was shot in 2021. She said he had known him for years and was friends with his former partner Andrew Ashcroft
Hartin and his former partner Andrew, 44, had five-year-old twins Charlie and Elle together
“I said, not a chance in hell. I know exactly what you’re doing, you’re going to shoot me in the back. They started laughing at me and said, you’re smart, Hartin.
“They also wouldn’t give me food or water and they made me clean the toilet with my bare hands, it was disgusting.”
Hartin met Ashcroft in Belize the year he arrived in 2014.
In 2016 they got engaged and had twin children – she met Jemmott the same year, she said 48 hours.
The manslaughter case ended her relationship with Ashcroft after he allegedly barred her from their flat and restricted access to their five-year-old twins, Charlie and Elle.
Hartin filed for custody in Family Court, but the case ended abruptly after Commissioner Williams announced that an unnamed woman hired a Belize City street gang to take himself out. and Cayetano.
On May 26, 2022 – six days after Hartin was questioned – Cayetano granted legal custody of the children to their father, who soon left Belize and moved to the Turks and Caicos Islands to launch a new hotel.
