Canadian socialite pleads guilty in shooting death of Belize police officer

A Canadian socialite has pleaded guilty to killing a senior police officer in Belize.

On Tuesday, 34-year-old Jasmine Hartin pleaded guilty to manslaughter over the May 2021 death of Belizean police superintendent Henry Jemmott. Jemmott was shot in the head with his own gun while alone with Hartin on a pier during a night that involved drinking.

"I just want Henry's family to have peace now and I want this whole thing behind all of us so we can heal," Hartin told reporters outside a Belize courthouse on Tuesday.

Hartin, a mother of two from Kingston, Ont., has said that she was friends with Jemmott, a father of five. At the time, Hartin's partner was the son of billionaire British-Belizean businessman Michael Ashcroft, who has strong ties to Britain's Conservative Party and is a former member of the House of Lords. Hartin and her former partner managed a luxurious resort in the Central American country.

"I can tell you heavy on her heart in considering was to not put the family of the victim through the anguish of having to go through a trial proceeding," Hartin's lawyer, OJ Elrington, told reporters on Tuesday.

Canadian criminal defence lawyer Chris Hicks questions how Jemmott could have been shot accidentally.

"It's difficult to believe that two adult people are walking along the beach with a loaded revolver or loaded automatic pistol and passing it back and forth in what turns out to be a careless manner," Hicks told CTV News from Windsor, Ont.

Hartin's sentencing hearing is scheduled for May 31. Her lawyer says she may receive a noncustodial sentence alongside a large fine or compensation payment to the victim's family.

"Nobody ever wins in a situation like this," Elrington said. "The only thing that can happen is that the parties involved can now get the opportunity to move on with their lives."

With files from the Associated Press