The Commissioner insisted he was keeping an open mind as to whether the death was suicide, accident, or murder, but Supt. Jemmott’s sister has emphatically rejected suggestions that her brother might have taken his own life.
Mr. Jemmot had requested personal leave from the police before the incident. Commissioner Williams stated: “From what we have gathered so far Mr. Jemmott and a female, one Jasmine, were socializing on a pier somewhere in San Pedro in the south part of Ambergris Caye. This was after 12.30 am which was COVID curfew time.
“One single gunshot was heard. And upon investigating, police found the female on a pier. And she had what appeared to be blood on her arms and her clothing. A firearm was also seen. That has been retrieved. The firearm belonged to the police and was assigned to Mr. Jemmott, so he had it on him at the time.
“And inside the waters right near the pier police recovered the lifeless body of Mr. Jemmott with one apparent gunshot wound behind the right ear. He was taken to the San Pedro clinic where he was found dead on arrival. Currently, we have Miss Jasmine Ashcroft in custody, and she is being investigated in the shooting of Mr. Jemmott.”
Ms. Hartin, a former estate agent, is in a relationship with the leading Tory donor’s son, and the couple live in the Caribbean nation, where they launched the luxury hotel together. After Ms. Hartin was visited by one of Belize’s most high-powered lawyers, Godfrey Smith, Supt. Jemmott’s sister declared that her brother would never commit suicide.
Marie Jemmott Tzul told 7 News Belize: “I would say bull! My brother would never kill himself. My brother had a passion for life, he looked forward for his children, his five children and his finance and me and the other family members.”
She said the family knew nothing of Mr. Jemmott’s relationship with Ms. Hartin, who according to police were friends. “They only know that he got shot, there was a female there, and he was found in the water, that’s all the family knows so far,” she said.
Asked whether she thought the single gunshot wound behind his right ear which killed her brother could have been accidental, she said: “Well, I cannot say that. I will leave that to the investigators and I ask that God open their hearts and minds as they do this investigation, so that the truth may fall in place. What happened, we don’t know, I don’t know. So we are depending on the police investigation to set the record straight for us. I believe he was killed.”
“Inspection of the body should tell us a lot in terms of proximity and trajectory which will assist in determining the distance from which the shot was fired as well as whether or not Mr. Jemmott could have caused his own injury or it was caused by someone in his close proximity,” said the Commissioner.
Forensic tests were not carried out to swab Ms. Hartin for gunshot residue, and there was no surveillance footage from CCTV cameras available, Commissioner Williams told the media briefing.
A curfew is in place between midnight and 5:00 am as part of the island’s COVID restrictions, but officers have interviewed people in the area in case they witnessed anything.
