Jasmine Hartin today pleaded guilty to Manslaughter by negligence of Superintendent of Police Henry Jemmott, She did that in Supreme Court today and 7News was there every step of the way. We begin with what happened this morning:
The proceedings in the case of the Crown vs. Jasmine Hartin for manslaughter by negligence of Henry Jemmott were set to resume this morning.
The first attorney to the court was Oscar Selgado who had technically been fired but was there to hand over to Senior Attorney Hubert Elrington.
And indeed, despite the fact that her Belizean attorney Hubert Elrington was late, it started in earnest and with a bit of dramatics:
STANDUP
We're bringing you the latest from the Jasmine Hartin trial, the trial for manslaughter by negligence in which Ms Hartin will find out whether she will receive a fine, and will receive jail time. And we the public are waiting to find out if she will enter a guilty plea, we entered court just now and the court was adjourned until 10:30 this morning but, shockingly, Justice Ricardo Sandcroft decreed that no family members were on either side, so either Henry Jemmott's side or Jasmine Hartin's side would be allowed inside the courtroom.
It's left Henry Jemmott's sister Marie devastated and she has been here visibly crying about the fact that she may not be allowed to observe justice being done.
But at the appointed time Marie Jemmott and her sister Vidalia disregarded that instruction and went into court anyway. They were later told that moving forward they would not be allowed to wear T-shirts bearing Henry Jemmott's image because the judge said that he had to quote: "remain dispassionate." They have appeared at every single court date and worn the t-shirts every single time.
In court, Hartin was presented with the DPP's additional evidence and asked to enter a plea, then and there, but, Hubert Elrington, on the Instruction of his Canadian colleague instead requested an adjournment.
Hartin's concern in taking a guilty plea is that it would affect her in her ongoing custody case with Andrew Ashcroft. But by 11:30 court had been adjourned again and with that Hartin's entourage left to make their deliberations.
STANDUP
There has been yet another adjournment in this particular court date for Jasmine Hartin. It seems that the court would like Ms Hartin to plea, today. She has said that she needs to seek. Instruction from her foreign attorneys and not just for Mr Elrington who is representing her here. We also understand that the DPP entered some additional evidence this morning. This means that finally after all these months full disclosure has been given.
She may enter a plea today and we do expect that to be a guilty plea. It seems things are moving very fast now and once that plea is entered it could be just a few weeks until Hartin is sentenced. Because the cause is manslaughter by negligence it is expected that she will be fined and not confined.
