Lawyer posts bail for 'emotionally abused' socialite Jasmine Hartin in Belize
The Canadian socialite Jasmine Hartin has been released from jail in Belize after a lawyer outraged over her apparent treatment by the family of Lord Ashcroft came forward to post her bail.
Hartin, 32, "is being psychologically and emotionally abused", said Wendy Auxillou, who secured her release, saying the mother of two had been "thrown to the wolves".
Mrs Auxillou said she had posted bail by putting forward the title to the property she owns.
1. Locked out of her home;
2. Denied access to her children;
3. Denied access to money; and
4. Continuously painted in the media as unhinged (Gaslighted).
When the truth is she is being emotionally and psychologically abused by a powerful man with money in a textbook case of DOMESTIC ABUSE.
The media is seemingly afraid to call this what it is. Why?
As a woman and a mother, I condemn in the strongest possible terms the abusive treatment of Jasmine Hartin by her former partner, Andrew Ashcroft.
Where is the Special Envoy for Women and Children, H.E. Rossana Briceno?
Jasmine Hartin Speaks, Says Andrew Ashcroft Railroaded Her
Tonight, Jasmine Hartin, the alleged killer of Superintendent Henry
Jemmott, remains a free woman, with all her efforts now focused on
gaining access and ultimately custody to her twins Charlie and Elle.
But Hartin's wished for a reunion with the four-year-olds is likely a
long ways off.
But while that custody issue may be in limbo, Hartin isn't keeping
quiet. Speaking to Cherisse Halsall last night, this time in a sit-down
interview about what she says she's faced in the days before and after
her latest stint at the Kolbe Foundation.
This is the picture of Jasmine Hartin that is emerging tonight, a woman
skilled in the use of high-powered weapons. She is seen here artfully
firing a 12-gauge pump-action shotgun at a target 50 ft away and making a
perfect bullseye. As the watermelon explodes it sends a chill through
anyone who knows what happened that night on the Matarocks pier.
At the end of that masterful shot, Hartin smiles for the camera and kisses
the barrel of the shotgun.
This video and these pictures showing her in front of a line of targets
started floating around the internet today, no doubt part of an active
smear against an alleged accidental killer who is also a mother seeking to
get back her kids.
Another video shows her aloft in the rigging of a thatch bar's roof
mounting a saddle, for some type of performance.
The images are no doubt meant as a punch in the gut for someone seeking
custody of her kids - someone who these images would want to suggest isn't
fit for the job. And that's the first thing I asked her yesterday.
Cherisse Halsall
"Now in the Belizean popular imagination there's been a lot said about you,
they say you're a wild party girl, they say you're a cocaine addict? How do
you respond to that perception of the Jasmine that's been painted in the
public?"
Jasmine Hartin - Accused of Manslaughter
"Honestly, I wouldn't say I'm a wild party girl but I like to have fun with
my friends, I like to dance, I always like to do dinners, I like to treat
people, I like to host events at the house so I am a social person. When it
comes to the drugs, yeah, I heard that too and that was a shock to me as
well, so people are always talking, it's Belize."
And from there I took a shot at the burning question everyone was to know:
Cherisse Halsall
"The question the public wants me to ask of course, you know what happened
on that pier that night? It's such a mystery to everyone?"
Jasmine Hartin "Yeah, I can't talk about that yet until everything."
Cherisse Halsall "Gotcha."
What you're not seeing is Jasmine's attorney, off-camera, signalling her
about what, at this point, is not a question she would be legally advised
to answer. And so, we proceeded.
Cherisse Halsall
"So, Jemmott saves you from this, in your words terrible ordeal, situation
now the following week he comes to San Pedro and he's distraught because
he's having emotional issues with his marriage and his personal life, does
he share any of that with you?"
Jasmine Hartin
"No, no I saw on facebook he posted something on Facebook about I'm single
or something and then he said that he wanted to come to San Pedro to blow
off some steam, he asked me if I could get him a unit, so I booked him in
one at Grand Colony and he said he was coming with a friend and he was just
going to, that he had a couple days off. He didn't mention anything about
the breakup at that point. I figured if he wanted to talk about it, he
would so he didn't and I really didn't see him that much he was gone a lot
during the day while I was busy working."
And that was the extent of our conversation about Henry Jemmott, because at
this stage what Hartin and her attorney hoped to get across was an account
of the last week and how difficult she says her life has been made based -
she believes - on the actions of Andrew Ashcroft.
Cherisse Halsall
"What's been the reaction from the Ashcroft family since you've been
accused of manslaughter, how has their position towards you shifted, since
the accusation of the manslaughter?"
Jasmine Hartin
"Um, from what I've been told from 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 didn't have any family come
to visit me in jail; I didn't have any family call me; instead, a couple
friends came to see me um but never once was I allowed to speak to the
children during that time, I didn't speak to their father, I didn't speak
to any family members at all. My brother from Canada he did try calling me
and then my mother was worried sick, but they we're trying to communicate
through Andrew and he was just keeping them at bay telling them I was fine
and it was a little bit exaggerated from what my mother I'm sure wants to
tell you."
Cherisse Halsall
"And so, this is why she screamed at him that he lied to your family? Based
on what your relationship was with Andrew prior to this incident how
shocked are you that he has been since then distancing himself to this
degree?"
Jasmine Hartin
"I'm like, I'm still shocked because even though, like Andrew and I we've
been together seven years and we're not perfect, there have been ups and
downs and we definitely have a complicated relationship, it's been hostile,
many parts of the seven years, but even with all of that though I can't
believe how I've been treated. I just feel like I'm the mother of your
children, I'm the mother of his grandchildren um, I don't know how you just
pull everything from me and show me no love and support during a time I
need it the most right now. And again I don't want to make this about me,
I'm in this situation because of a horrible accident from the 28th when I
lost my friend Henry and that was terrible. So I'm just saying like. I'm
sure his family likes to have the love and support to get through this
time. I don't have the love and support to get through it on my side."
No Love, No support, and very little money after Ashcroft's former partner
says he sent a backchannel request to get her to give up her stake in their
business.
Jasmine Hartin
"Yeah so, the night, it was the Monday the 31st of May I was in the San
Pedro police station after a magistrate had denied my bail. I was clearly
upset, very stressed out and Andrew had sent a letter with a mutual friend
to meet me in the male's bathroom at the front of the police station to
sign a one paragraph statement that says, I Jasmine Hartin sign all shares
of Kidd Estates Limited which is 10% to Andrew Ashcroft for the sum of one
dollar a share meanwhile on that piece of paper it didn't say anything
about witness I didn't see his signature, I've never received compensation
for that, and under duress I believe that that is now null and void. You
can't even use that in a court of law but I'm not the lawyer so."
Cherisse Halsall "Did you feel threatened at all to sign that?"
Jasmine Hartin
"In the moment I was told that if I don't sign it that Marriott is going to
pull the franchise agreement and everything we worked for was going to be
taken away, and all I could think about was we built this for our kids, we
worked so hard to get this. So, I'm gonna trust that, and I'll sign it over
but he'll make sure that I get it back you know that's what I was thinking.
So in the moment I was just a little bit in shock, I'm going through this
wave of emotion already and I just signed it to appease the situation but
it wasn't right to sign it at that time under those pressures."
And what of Hartin's time at the Kolbe foundation? Yesterday she told me
that while the women's section is much less intimidating that the men's,
she still has a fresh picture in her mind of "the hole" a place they put
women who are punished with solitary confinement. Jasmine says she had to
walk past it daily in order to reach the laundry room:
Jasmine Hartin
"The first time was harder because I'd never been there and I was getting
used to the routine and I was just getting used to being restrained and the
whole thing in general. It was a life changing eye-opening experience. Then
I got out and even when I get out I'm prevented from seeing my children so
the second time going back in it wasn't as hard because I can't see them
while I'm out then I might as well do the time and not see them while I'm
in."
Cherisse Halsall
"And you said you had custody struggles with Andrew in the past, if you
could just briefly touch on that?"
Jasmine Hartin
"So yeah, it was back in 2008. It was a very, very, bad time in our
relationship and I didn't feel that the children were safe at the time
being around him and so I decided to, well I didn't feel that I was safe or
the children were safe at that specific time. It was a really down time for
him. So, I decided to take the kids to Canada to visit family and upon
being in Canada I decided you know maybe I should stay here for a little
while let things cool down um and even then, he wasn't denied visitation.
He still came to Canada, saw the kids and then I tried to make it work
again with him, so I was only gone for two months, two and a half months
and then I came back decided that we owed it to the children to make it
work."
And while Hartin chose family in 2018 the shoe is now on the other foot,
with Andrew Ashcroft making the decisions about her parental access.
Jasmine Hartin
"I think he has technically already kidnapped them from me, I don't know if
I'm allowed to say that but withholding a mother from her children when we
have nothing in custody and writing I don't know of another situation where
they've done this to a mother, just taken the children and put up a
blockade of security guards to keep you from them, on your own property,
and then try to put charges on you for trying to see your kids. So, I think
you're, to answer that I think It's already kidnapping and at this point I
don't question anything that they're capable of, I think they could do
whatever they want. This shows how much power they have and when you have
that much money and power in a small country like Belize it shows what
you're capable of doing, I've spent 19 days in jail and I should not have
spent one."
And while she thinks that those who cradle the memories of Henry Jemmott
believe that she should spend a lifetime.
And that's the question: is Jasmine Hartin a careless killer, is she a
dispossessed mother, or is she a party girl who just didn't know when to
stop?
Three Jasmine's, one accusation of manslaughter, and seven young children -
5 of his and two of hers - in the lurch.
7NEWS sought comment via text from Andrew Ashcroft but we have not
received a reply.
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.
The custody battle between Andrew Ashcroft and Jasmine Hartin has only just begun, but it's already gotten very ugly.
Ashcroft - who's had their children since late May - has filed for sole custody of their 4 year old twins, Elizabeth and Charlie Ashcroft on the grounds that Jasmine Hartin is a drug addict and a drunkard.
His statement claims, quote, "the mother of the children hardly spends any time with the children; she is frequently leaving the children in the care of others. Her main occupation is attending and socialising and she is addicted to illegal drugs and is a habitual drunkard." End quote.
He notes also that she is currently charged for causing the death of Superintendent Henry Jemmott, quote, "and the assault of a person while out on bail."
He states also that Hartin has quote, "immoral habits (drunkenness and drug addiction) (and) does not exercise proper care and control of the said children..." end quote.
His complaint adds that the application for custody is in the best interest of the children.
The custody battle will play out in Belize and Hartin has been summoned to appear in San Pedro Magistrate's Court on July 20th, 2021.
The strong language of the complaint is a sure sign that the gloves are off on both sides of the dispute - but, so far it's not an even fight because best indications are that Jasmin Hartin has not yet gotten a custody attorney - and reports say, some have turned her down. We do know that she went to the multiple police stations to file a complaint for child abduction, claiming that Andrew Ashcroft had kidnapped her children and took them to Mexico. And this afternoon police confirmed that Hartin indeed filed that report. They say it prompted them to investigate the whereabouts of Andrew Ashcroft and his children but claim that they're right here at home at the Grand Colony. San Pedro.
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Jasmine Hartin - Accused of Manslaughter
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.
