by Roy Davis (freelance reporter)
BELIZE CITY, Wed. May 31, 2023
A fine of $75,000 was imposed on Canadian socialite, Jasmine Hartin, 33, for the death of Superintendent of Police Henry Jemmott, 42, for which she had pleaded guilty to manslaughter by negligence. She again made local and international news with the imposition of the sentence.
Justice Ricardo Sandcroft, who passed the sentence, gave Hartin 12 months to pay the fine. He told her that if she defaults on payment, she will serve a term of 12 months imprisonment. He said that the sentence must reflect that a life has been lost.
Apart from the fine, Justice Sandcroft ordered Hartin to do 300 hours of community service at YMCA, to make a video on the effects of excessive drinking, and to be banned from holding a firearm license and a fishing license.
He said that he will not interfere with the issue of compensation and he will leave it to the civil court to handle that. He said he will ask that the money be used to build a rehabilitation center for police officers.
He said that he will prepare a written judgement that is 25 pages long in a month’s time.
Before he decided on the sentence, Justice Sandcroft said he looked at the aggravating factors that were contained in a victim impact assessment statement and the mitigating factors that were contained in a social inquiry report. He said he looked at the fact that Hartin is a first-time offender and that she has shown remorse for what had occurred. He said that he must bear in mind that at the time of the incident alcohol drinking was taking place and that it was not the best time to be holding a firearm.
Justice Sandcroft said that according to the criminal code of Belize, a person convicted of manslaughter by negligence is liable to imprisonment for 5 years, but his position was not to impose a custodial sentence because the interest of society must not be confused with emotion.
Jemmott was shot and killed on May 20, 2021, while he was standing on a pier in San Pedro Town, Ambergris Caye. He had handed his gun to Hartin and was showing her how to use when it accidentally went off. Hartin pleaded guilty on April 25, 2023. She was represented by attorneys Hubert Elrington, his son, Orson “OJ” Elrington and Sharon Pitts Robateau.
The Director of Public Prosecutions, Cheryl-Lyn Vidal, represented the Crown.