Jasmine Hartin claims she was abandoned by Andrew Ashcroft's family
‘I can’t believe how I’ve been treated’: Socialite Jasmine Hartin, 32, claims she has been abandoned by Andrew Ashcroft’s family over fears about ‘bad press’ and that she wasn’t allowed to speak to her children
- Jasmine Hartin claimed the Ashcrofts were told to keep their ‘distance’ from her
- The former partner of Andrew Ashcroft said she was ‘shocked’ by her treatment
- Hartin, 32, was released from jail after a family friend posted her $30,000 bail
- The mother claimed she wasn’t allowed to speak to her children while in prison
- She is awaiting trial for the shooting of Supt Henry Jemmott in May with his pistol
The Canadian socialite who shot dead a police chief on a beach in Belize has claimed that the Ashcroft family were told to ‘distance’ themselves from her and didn’t visit her in prison.
Jasmine Hartin claimed she did not have any familial visitors in jail after the family of her former partner Andrew, the son of Lord Ashcroft, were told they couldn’t have ‘bad press associated with their reputation’.
The mother-of-two, 32, was released from jail on bail yesterday as she awaits trial for ‘ shooting Superintendent Henry Jemmott, a father-of-five, with his own service pistol in May, which she says was an accident.
Speaking to 7 News Belize’s Cherisse Halsall, she said the Ashcroft family were told to ‘distance’ themselves from her, claiming that she wasn’t allowed to speak to her infant twins while she was in Belize Central Prison.
It is unclear whether the family accept the claims. They have been approached and asked to provide a comment.
Jasmine Hartin (pictured) claimed she did not have any familial visitors in jail after the family of her former partner Andrew, the son of Lord Ashcroft, were told they couldn’t have ‘bad press’
In the new interview following her release on bail, she explained: ‘From what I’ve been told by the family, they were instructed to distance themselves from me immediately.
‘That they couldn’t have bad press associated with their reputation, so therefore, I wasn’t – I didn’t have any family come to visit me in jail, I didn’t have any family call me.
‘Instead a couple of friends came to see me, but never once was I allowed to speak to the children during that time.’
Hartin said that her brother tried to call her from Canada while her mother was ‘worried sick’ while she was in jail, but claimed that Andrew told them that she had visitors every single day – which she said was ‘exaggerated’.
She said although she has had a ‘complicated’ seven-year relationship with Andrew with many ‘ups and downs’, she has been ‘shocked’ about the Ashcroft family’s treatment of her since her arrest.
She added: ‘Even with all of that though, I can’t believe how I’ve been treated.’
Hartin, 32, said the Ashcroft family were told to ‘distance’ themselves from her, claiming that she wasn’t allowed to speak to her young twins while she was in Belize Central Prison
Hartin said although she has had a ‘complicated’ seven-year relationship with Andrew (pictured), she is still ‘shocked’ about her treatment from Ashcroft family since her arrest
Her full interview with the local news channel will air on 7 News Belize’s evening television programme on Thursday.
MailOnline has contacted Lord Ashcroft’s office for comment.
Her shocking comments came after her family friend, who is believed to have secured her release from prison, claimed she had been ‘thrown to the wolves’.
Wendy Auxillou, who is understood to be Hartin’s family friend, claimed to MailOnline that she has been denied access to her children and been locked out of her home.
Auxillou said she posted Hartin’s $30,000 bail by supplying the title to a property she owns as collateral, according to The Times.
Auxillou, who works as a lawyer, condemned Hartin’s apparent treatment and claimed that she is ‘being psychologically and emotionally abused’.
Before her release yesterday, Hartin had previously been out on bail but was re-arrested and charged with assaulting a hotel worker last week.
She was then sent back to Central Belize Prison after the manager of the resort where she had lived with Andrew decided he was no longer willing to cover her bail money following the incident.
While previously out on bail, Hartin was turned away by security when she tried to access her family apartment at the Grand Colony resort to see her young twins.
According to The Times, Auxillou said: ‘In the beginning, people viewed her as some type of rich entitled kid, basically.
The former partner of Lord Ashcroft’s son Andrew is awaiting trial for shooting Superintendent Henry Jemmott (pictured), a father-of-five, with his own service pistol last month
‘After what transpired with her being locked out of her house and kept away from her kids and all that, she’s now being viewed with a bit of sympathy.’
It has not been specified whether Auxillou is part of her legal team, which is being led by high-profile attorney Richard ‘Dickie’ Bradley as Hartin awaits trial over the shooting of Superintendent Henry Jemmott, which she claims was an accident.
Authorities at the Central Prison received confirmation of Hartin meeting requirements for bail and she was released as of 3pm yesterday, according to Breaking Belize News.
Her conditions for bail reportedly include daily reports to the police station, a daily curfew, not leaving the jurisdiction, not interfering with witnesses, and maintaining good behaviour.
Hartin’s legal team is being led by high-profile attorney Richard ‘Dickie’ Bradley, after an apparent split with Godfrey Smith – the former attorney general of Belize who was hired on her behalf in the hours after Jemmot’s shooting.
It comes after Hartin’s mother Candace Castiglione claimed that her daughter’s treatment amounted ‘persecution from the Ashcroft family’.
Hartin had previously been out on bail as she awaited trial over the shooting of Henry Jemmott, which she says was an accident, but was then sent back to prison.
She was charged with assaulting a hotel worker during a clash with her former partner and appeared in court in San Pedro to plead not guilty to assault, but was remanded in prison.
The mother-of-two (pictured) was released from prison yesterday after her family friend, lawyer Wendy Auxillou, posted her $30,000 bail
The court heard she had attempted to push Sandra Grisham, the general manager of the Alaia, however, Hartin representing herself, pleaded not guilty and denied attacking anyone.
Frank Habet, a manager of a resort, then withdrew her bail funds saying he was worried he would lose his 60,000 Belizean dollars ($30,000) if Jasmine Hartin did not show up for trial.
He said he decided to pull the plug after the accused mother was turned back by security on Tuesday when she tried to access her family apartment at the Grand Colony resort to see her young twins.
Frank Habet said: ‘Miss Hartin appeared at Grand Colony resort behaving in a disorderly and abusive manner and creating great disturbance at the hotel in the presence of guests.
‘I now think Miss Hartin is quite capable of not showing up for trial and I therefore wish to immediately withdraw my cash deposit.’
Videos showed Hartin, 32, chasing her partner Andrew Ashcroft into the neighboring Alaia Belize hotel, which the couple ran together before the Jemmott shooting.
Hartin took the videos on her own cell phone and could be heard repeatedly asking Ashcroft why he allegedly wouldn’t give her access to Ellie and Charlie, four.
The incident prompted Habet, the general manager of Grand Colony – another Ashcroft-operated property – to demand back his $30,000 cash deposit and cancel a further surety of $30,000.
Auxillou, who works as a lawyer, also condemned Hartin’s (pictured) apparent treatment and claimed that she is ‘being psychologically and emotionally abused’
‘Ms Hartin appeared at Grand Colony Resort behaving in a disorderly and abusive manner and creating great disturbance at the hotel in the presence of guests,’ Habet wrote.
‘I now think Ms Hartin is quite capable of not showing up for trial and I wish to immediately withdraw my cash deposit and revoke the surety form I signed as I simply cannot afford the financial loss should this occur.’
Hartin had been released on bail of $1,000 Belizeans dollars before being transferred by boat to the Supreme Court in Belize City – where she then learned about Habet’s sudden u-turn.
Hartin is currently awaiting trial for shooting Superintendent Henry Jemmott, a father-of-five, with his own service pistol last month.
Jemmott, a highly-rated officer tipped as a future leader of his country’s police force, was struck behind his right ear by a 9mm round from his own Glock 17 service pistol.
According to a criminal complaint he had been ‘socializing’ and drinking alone with Hartin on a secluded hotel pier in Ambergris Caye, a tropical island haven for millionaire expats.
A security guard heard a ‘loud bang’ at 12:45am and police arrived to find Canadian national Hartin ‘covered in red substance as that of blood’ and Jemmott, 42, floating dead on his back 30ft from the shore.
An expended shell casing was still lodged inside the gun which was found on the Mata Rocks hotel pier along with a magazine, live bullets and a pool of blood.
Last week, Hartin (pictured) re-told her version of events that led to Jemmott’s death, saying the gun went off unexpectedly in her hands as she tried to re-insert a clip and hand it to him
After spending the weekend behind bars, Hartin gave a statement saying the off-duty officer was showing her how to handle his firearm as the pair drank and hung out.
In her exclusive interview on Thursday with DailyMail.com, she reiterated her version of events, saying the gun went off unexpectedly in her hands as she tried to re-insert a clip and hand it back.
‘Henry was my friend. It was an accident, I didn’t flee the scene. The first thing I did was call the police myself,’ she said.
‘There’s literally not a day that goes by when I don’t cry and my frigging chest doesn’t hurt and ache for his kids, for his family, for him.’
She also revealed for the first time that the reason she was practicing with the gun was because an unnamed man had tried to rape her at a party six days earlier.
Three days after Jemmott’s death Hartin was charged with manslaughter by negligence after prosecutors opted against murder or full-fledged manslaughter on the strength of her witness statement insisting it was an accident.
The offense carries a maximum prison sentence of nine months or a fine of around 10,000 Belizean dollars ($5,000 in US money).
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