Jasmine Hartin to be charged in death of Henry Jemmott’s
A British billionaire’s daughter-in-law is expected to be charged Monday in the death of a Belize police official, according to a report.
Jasmine Hartin, 38, a US national who is married to the son
of politically connected businessman Lord Michael Ashcroft, is being held in
the Friday morning shooting death of San Pedro Superintendent Henry Jemmott.
Jemmott’s sister, Marie Jemmott Tzul, 55, told the Daily
Mail on Sunday night that Hartin will be charged in his death.
“I got a call. I was informed that she will be charged
tomorrow, but they did not say what she was going to be charged with,” Tzul
told the news outlet.
Hartin and Jemmott were drinking and socializing on a pier
before his body was found floating in the water with a bullet wound to the head
and his service weapon nearby, police said.
The suspect had “blood on her arms and clothes” before being
arrested, according to The Sun.
She initially refused to cooperate with investigators and
asked for her lawyer, Belize Police Commissioner Chester Williams said.
An unconfirmed local TV report suggested that Hartin would
be charged with manslaughter after she told authorities the Glock handgun went
off accidentally as she handed it to Jemmott, 42, the Daily Mail reported.
She told investigators she was giving Jemmott a massage
before the freak accident, according to the news outlet, which cited local news
reports.
A police officer who responded to the scene suggested that
Jemmott fell on Hartin after being shot — and then plunged into the water when
she pushed him off, the Daily Mail reported.
“I haven’t seen the news because I’m so overwhelmed and
devastated by my brother’s death,” Tzul, a retired social worker, told the
outlet.
“I can’t can speculate over whether they will bail her or
she will stay in prison, because I don’t know the charge yet,” she said.
“What I would say to Jasmine is, ‘Give closure to the
family. Tell us what happened. We want to know for the benefit of our family.
He was my only brother,’” Tzul continued.
“He had five children and a partner for 14 years. Every time
I look at my nieces and my nephews I break down and cry. Please tell us what
happened,” she added.
Jemmott’s family has refuted suggestions that he took his
own life — despite claims he was experiencing marital problems.
Another sister, Cherry Jemmott, an assistant police
superintendent, told the Daily Mail: “My brother would never ever kill himself.
He had his plans. In September he was to be promoted to senior superintendent
and he was to be transferred to another unit. My brother is a very top cop with
a big dream.”
She added: “He had a gunshot behind his ear like an
assassination. He is so skillful after 24 years [as an officer], he would never
have left his guard down. He was a top cop. I don’t know how he let down his
guard to be shot with his own gun.”
Meanwhile, Jemmott’s niece Renisha Martinez wrote on
Facebook that she knows “for a fact” that he would never commit suicide.
“He was murdered and we need justice. That man loved his job
so much that he wouldn’t even take days off!” Martinez wrote, according to the
Daily Mail.
“First and foremost my Uncle is a dedicated man when it
comes to his job. He is a caring and supporting dad, uncle and friend. He loved
being out and working hard. He believed that hard work came with alot of
discipline.”
She added: “My uncle was a great man in my eyes and anybody
else who knows him would feel how I feel.”
Hartin, who lives in Belize with her husband Andrew
Ashcroft, is the director of lifestyle and experience at the Alaia Belize
resort, where she was staying before Jemmott’s death.
Her father-in-law is Belize’s former ambassador to the
United Nations and his lawyer, the country’s former attorney general,
reportedly visited Hartin in jail Saturday.
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