The daughter-in-law of a British billionaire is facing manslaughter charges after she shot a Black officer to death.
According to multiple reports, the incident occurred while Jasmine Hartin — a Canadian socialite and wife to billionaire Lord Michael Ashcroft’s son — was drinking and hanging out with San Pedro Superintendent Henry Jemmott — one of the top officers in Belize — on Friday night (May 28). Hartin said she was giving the cop — a friend of the Hartin family — a massage when he asked her to hand him his gun. As she passed over the pistol, the gun accidentally discharged, fatally shooting Jemmott.
Police reports say the cop was shot behind the ear and to the head. His body was found in a river when emergency responders arrived on the scene.
On the contrary, Hartin was discovered with blood splattered all over her clothing. She was “deeply distressed,” “shaking” and uncooperative before cops’ threat to charge her with cocaine possession scared her into telling her story.
That story, however, is being questioned by Jemmott’s family. As the New York Post reported, the cop’s family believe he was too “skillful” to have been shot by accident. “He had a gunshot behind his ear like an assassination,” said his sister Cherry Jemmott. “He was a top cop. I don’t know how he let down his guard to be shot with his own gun.”
An investigation is being conducted to determine whether Hartin and Jemmott were playing with the firearm while inebriated.
Hartin was arrested and placed in a small cell in San Pedro. During an arraignment on Monday (May 31), she was charged with manslaughter by negligence, which reportedly holds a maximum of 25 years in Belize. Per the Daily Mail, however, the billionaire’s daughter-in-law — who was denied bail — faces a maximum of five years and may possibly avoid jail altogether if she pays a $10,000 fine.