The Empire Strikes Back At Jasmine

Tonight we continue with the saga of Jasmin Hartin versus Andrew Ashcroft. Yes, we've been pulled into covering what on the face of it is just a really ugly domestic dispute between a super rich couple - but there's a power dimension also at play: Jasmin Hartin is going up against the richest, most powerful, most impervious empire in Belize. And, in threatening to tell tales like that proverbial "fish from rivabattam", she has brought to the Alliance's front door that which it can least tolerate: bad press from inside. It's not only bad for business, it's the kind of relationship drama no wealthy family can stand to have publicly aired - especially with young kids in the middle.

With all that, the woman who stands accused of killing a beloved police officer has shifted her narrative from an accused killer to a dispossessed mother - and in so doing, has rattled the Ashcroft's otherwise unshakeable cage.

And, for the past two days, the Alliance - or forces aligned with it - have been battling back with soft power - strategically leaking damning videos of Hartin. And today, 7News obtained a signed statement from Andrew Ashcroft about the events of June 22nd - the same day Jasmin Hartin escalated things at the Ashcroft's Grand Colony and Alia resorts.

Cherisse Halsall has both sides of the story:

Andrew Ashcroft's account is that on June 22nd the manager of the Grand Colony alerted him to the fact his former partner, Jasmine Hartin was at the gate, at the resort gate.

Quote: "Behaving aggressively toward the security guard and cursing loudly, claiming this is her home, that she owns 50% of this company and that she has every right to go into her home to get her personal effects and to get her children."

Ashcroft said he stood 30 feet away as Jasmine's mother Candice Castiglione cursed him and called him a liar

Jasmine Hartin Hunts Down Andrew Ashcroft in His Resort, She Wants Her Kids

Ashcroft says he then walked over to the adjacent Alaia property and went into the kitchen and Jasmine followed in this now-famous chase down footage

Ashcroft says quote "I became very concerned about the hotel and guests that her filming was deliberately designed to create some...media circus."

Ashcroft says he fled from there to go and snatch his children up from a restaurant on the property where he whisked both the children and their nanny into a kitchen all the while he says "Jasmine was aggressively shouting at security." He claims she then assaulted the Alaia General Manager and shouted to her kids: "Charlie and Elle I'm coming for you."

Ashcroft. Describes it as a scene of panic and chaos and he Characterized Jasmine as quote: "Becoming very irrational, shouting and cursing."

A very different account than the one given to us by Jasmine.

Jasmine Hartin, Accused of Manslaughter
"I just wanted to gather a few personal belongings and surprise my babies. It had been over a week since I had seen them. I had no idea that I was gonna be greeted the way I was, that was a big surprise, kind of a blow."

"I took a video because I was so shocked about it and I'm glad I did, so I tried to reach Grand Colony and one of the guards who is an employee of mine technically still, told me he was instructed to not allow me on the property. And I said great police are here they can help and I asked if they could please escort me onto the property to gather a few of my things. I really have hardly anything at all, I'm living out of a suitcase right now, and so yeah that was it. I wanted to get my things,I wanted to see my children and when I saw Andrew, oh I can't say that? When I saw Andrew he was denying to speak to me, completely ignoring me, which made me confused, hurt, puzzled, and why is this happening to me. I guess I felt that as soon as. I was released on bail, I should have been reunited with my children at my home. I wasn't expecting to be greeted that way at all and it was extremely hurtful."

And as they say, there are three sides to every story, in this case: His, hers and the truth.

Ashcroft says he then rushed his kids onto a waiting boat and quote: "Jasmine tried to follow...me onto the dock but my security guards restrained her."

He says he was back in half an hour, returned to his office, and then was alerted to the fact that quote: "Jasmine was on a golf cart with four heavyset unknown men and was approaching the restaurant again." But nothing came of this except he concludes, quote: I believe her appearance with four strange men was an attempt to gain entry and to take the children."

Ashcroft adds quote: "At no time has I told Jasmine that she cannot see her children. When she was...in...Cayo; after being granted bail, I flew the children all the way from San Pedro; Ellipses to spend several hours with her." And while she says that was only 3 hours he adds: "the following week I again arranged to have the children flown over to see her only to discover that she had abandoned the residence I'd arranged for her and quote: "disappeared to an unknown location."

From there he speaks like the custodian of the children. "I had explained to Jasmine that we have to agree to dates, times, and place convenient for all of us where she can see the children. But instead, she insists on making unreasonable demands, showing up without prior notification..."

Ashcroft signed the document on June 25th two days after his former partner had just spent the second night of her second stint in prison.

Channel 7