Socialite Jasmine Hartin was ‘roughed up’ by Belize cops after being arrested for ‘accidentally killing’ police chief
SOCIALITE Jasmine Hartin was reportedly "roughed up" by Belize cops after she was arrested last Friday for allegedly accidentally killing a police officer.
The daughter-in-law of British billionaire Lord Ashcroft is facing manslaughter by negligence charges after the body of Henry Jemmott was found floating in the sea near San Pedro last week.
on Friday night after she was found "hysterical" at the Mata Rocks Hotel pier close to where the superintendent's body was discovered.
A cellmate named only as Jose told local media that he was asleep when the mother-of-two was initially brought into the San Pedro prison.
He described her as "lost" and claimed that her clothes were "full of blood" as she argued with officers.
It's reported the punishment could be a fine of around $10,000 as the charge rarely results in a prison sentence in the country.
She has been transferred to one of Central America's toughest prisons.
His corpse was later discovered by someone on a passing boat.
Police in Belize said that a single gunshot was heard - and officers then found the woman on the pier with "blood on her arms and her clothing."
Hartin's attorney, Godfrey Smith, told reporters after she was charged that her bail had been denied.
";The charge is manslaughter by negligence. Bail has been denied. We appeal to the Supreme Court as is normal," he said.
Hartin and Jemmott were supposedly friends, police said.
The socialite left a hotel she operates with her husband, Alaia, late Thursday night and met up with Jemmott on the jetty, according to cops.
The pair were also apparently breaking the island's 10pm to 5am Covid curfew.
Hartin and husband Andrew head a luxury hotel company in Belize.
Andrew, 43, is the youngest of Lord Ashcroft's three children from his first marriage and is a citizen of Belize, where he lives and works with Hartin.
Lord Ashcroft, who also lives in Belize but remains active in British politics, is a former deputy chairman of the Conservative Party, having served between 2005 and 2010.
He sat on the benches of the House of Lords as a life peer until 2015.
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Family members said that Jemmott was a father of five and that he was heading for a promotion to senior superintendent with Belize Police.
They are adamant that he was not having an affair with Hartin.