BELIZE CITY. Wed. June 9, 2021– This afternoon, in the Supreme Court, bail was granted to Jasmine Hartin, the common-law wife of Lord Ashcroft’s youngest son, after her attorney, Senior Counsel Godfrey Smith, argued successfully that Hartin, who is charged for manslaughter in connection with the death of Superintendent of Police, Henry Jemmott, is not a flight risk. The Director of Public Prosecution’s Crown Counsel had asserted in the DPP’s submissions to the court that there is a high possibility that Hartin will leave the country if granted bail.

In the end, Justice Herbert Lord, who presided over the bail application, ruled that the risk of Hartin leaving the country would be minimal, with the appropriate requirements and conditions in place.

Attorney Godfrey Smith specified some of those requirements and conditions when he spoke to local media after the hearing. “The bail was set at the sum of $30,000 Belize dollars plus a surety of the same amount. Reportage to the police station once per day, a request has to be made of the court if there is a wish to travel….Surrender of passport, all other documents and all forms of identification and a number of other things…,” he said.

Copies of a document that outlines those conditions were sent to the Commissioner of Police and the Director of Immigration, who will then be expected to share such information with their units.

In some quarters there was probably disappointment when it was announced that Hartin’s bail application had been approved. Despite the emotionally charged nature of the manslaughter case, however, the bail decision hinged on arguments submitted by the Crown Counsel and Hartin’s attorney respectively, and it appears that Justice Lord was not convinced, after reviewing the submission of Crown Counsel Shanice Lovell, who represented the DPP’s office, that Hartin’s alleged flight risk status was sufficient reason to deny her bail. SC Smith, on the other hand, successfully asserted that enough evidence had not been provided by the Crown Counsel to support the DPP’s claims.

Smith pointed out that the prosecution had not called into question Hartin’s character, morals or conduct, and he posited that her Canadian citizenship and the fact that she lives in Belize via a monthly extension to her visitor’s permit were not a good enough reason to deny the application.

SC Smith also told the court that Hartin wishes to return to the care of her four-year-old twins, and at one point he even proposed that the court order travel restrictions on the children if necessary. He commented that no father would want his children to travel with an international fugitive, given the global coverage of this story — thus suggesting that Hartin’s common-law husband, the son of Lord Michael Ashcroft, would not facilitate, or approve of, her departure from the country if she took her children with her.

At the end of the morning session, Smith left the bench to review a checklist consisting of ten reasons that bail should be granted to the accused, who had been behind bars at the Belize Central Prison for a little over a week.

He told the court that Hartin has no criminal record and that the prosecution did not provide any evidence to discredit her morals or conduct, despite the fact that Hartin was found with a small quantity of cocaine on the night of her arrest.

He also pointed out that the accused lives in Belize and has economic ties to the country, since she manages the Alaia resort on San Pedro Caye with her common-law husband, Andrew Ashcroft.

He added that she did not flee the scene of the incident, which, he insisted, will likely be proven to have been an accident.

Smith also highlighted the minimal severity of the punishment that is meted out in manslaughter-by-negligence cases, which is typically a fine and a short sentence, and argued that such a sentence is not substantial enough to justify becoming an international fugitive.

“For us, it made little sense to argue flight risk if she is under an international media microscope for an offense, for which the likely sentence may be a fine or a short term in prison and it makes no sense to flee in such circumstances.” SC Godfrey Smith said.

Hartin was subsequently processed, and it appears that she easily submitted that allotted bail sum and surety in order to be released from the Belize Central Prison. She was reportedly escorted out of the facility this evening.