British socialite Jasmine Hartin avoids jail after killing Belize police officer

Canadian socialite Jasmine Hartin will serve no time in prison for killing a high-ranking Belize police official in what she said was an accidental shooting.

The 34-year-old socialite, who has two children with the son of British billionaire Lord Ashcroft, was fined $75,000 for the crime of manslaughter by negligence.

Hartin must also complete 300 hours of community service and record a video teaching the public about the dangers of “drinking and making foolish decisions”, the Supreme Court in Belize City ordered, according to the Daily Mail.

Judge Ricardo Sandcroft reportedly disqualified Hartin from possession of any licence for two years.

"... it is the biggest fine ever, okay, so the case law clearly shows that significantly more than anything which has ever been handed down for a matter like this," Hartin's lawyer Orson “OJ” Elrington told Channel 5 Belize.

She was arrested and charged with the manslaughter of Henry Jemmott, 42, in late May 2021.

Hartin and the officer, who was a friend, were reportedly drinking on the island of Ambergris Cay when the incident took place.

They are then believed to have broken the 10pm Covid curfew by walking to a nearby dock where she is said to have offered him a massage for his shoulder pain.

According to Hartin, at around 12.45am, Jemmott encouraged her to handle his 9mm Glock-17 pistol in order to show her how to load it. The gun accidentally went off when she handed it back to him.

The father-of-five suffered a bullet wound behind the ear and died of his injuries.

“I don’t remember ever touching that trigger on the gun so I don’t know what happened, to be honest,” she said in June 2022.

“I was trying to get the clip out and it just went off – I don’t remember ever touching the trigger.

"I’m not sure if it was a faulty weapon or not. I really can’t tell you how it went off."

Hartin entered her last-minute guilty plea to manslaughter by negligence charge at the Supreme Court in April. Speaking outside the court, Hartin said she wanted Jemmott’s family to have "peace" and wanted "this whole thing behind all of us so we can heal".

However, Hartin's countless interviews have been criticised by Jemmott's 39-year-old widow Romit Wilson, who accused her of running an "international PR campaign".

"My children and I have had to endure Ms Hartin recounting in interview after interview, in full documentaries even, details of that awful night, details of her friendship with Henry and even details about my relationship with Henry,” Ms Wilson told the Daily Mail.

Leslie Mendez, the Jemmott family's lawyer, claimed Hartin was trying to "inject uncertainty" over her plea.

Ms Mendez said: "You cannot waffle on the veracity of your guilty plea and, at the same time, maintain you want the family to have peace and heal.

"It is reprehensible to inject uncertainty into the public discourse and the minds of his family when what they want is the truth and justice."