Jasmine Hartin reveals her Belize nightmare in new podcast

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Canadian mom-of-two Jasmine Hartin claims she looks like hell.

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She does not. Oh, far from it.

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The Kingston native could be forgiven if a hair was out of place given the ordeal she endured in Belize for the past three years. Now, she’s telling her side of the story in a new podcast called White Devil.

In an exclusive interview with the Toronto Sun, Hartin explains that her odyssey through the country’s legal system seems unending. She has a gag order regarding any discussion of her children, who were whisked out of the country by her ex-husband.

“I am not the ‘White Devil,’” Hartin told the Sun.

Hartin, 34, exploded onto the world’s front pages and airwaves in May 2021 when she accidentally shot her friend, San Pedro police chief Henry Jemmott. She was married to Andrew Ashcroft, the son of the country’s richest man, Sir Michael Ashcroft.

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Daddy wields a very big stick in Belize, controlling much of the media and other enterprises. He also has considerable power in Westminster and British Tory circles.

Hartin — a real estate agent-turned-resort developer — saw her life tossed into a death spiral. Her ex-husband whisked her children off to the Caribbean, she was charged with assault and possession of cocaine, and one rumour floated was that she plotted to kill a judge.

None of the charges were proven.

“And they want me to serve 300 community hours which is unprecedented in Belize. There is protocol for this and there is no apparatus for community service,” she said.

In addition to trying to get her children back, Hartin is attempting to reestablish her career in development with projects in the Turks and Caicos.

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But Hartin adds that she remains determined to unravel how she lost the resort in Belize that was her and her former partner’s pet project.

“I want to know how it was stolen from me and then sold to Waterloo Investment Holdings, a company controlled by Sir Michael Ashcroft without any compensation to me,” Hartin said, adding that Waterloo is traded on the Bermuda Stock Exchange.

“I certainly didn’t sign any documents.”

She added that her ex-husband has “never given me a cent.”

And then there were the bogus charges Hartin said are “clearly invented.” And the affair dragged on and on and on.

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“The podcast is ultimately about abuse of power. Belize is controlled by a handful of very wealthy and powerful families. You cannot step out of line,” Hartin said.

“This is what they did to me: Character assassination, public smearing, false accusations … expert gun user,” she said. “They deny leaking provocative videos of me.”

Hartin’s life remains in limbo despite all her optimism and fighting spirit. Jemmott’s family filed a wrongful death suit, and the matter of her children, other “batshit charges” and “non-stop shenanigans” from her enemies have worn her down.

Her story is also a cautionary tale for Canadians abroad: The government isn’t much help unless you’re dead.

“I haven’t heard a peep from the Canadian government. There were some helpful people at the embassy but even then, there is only so much they’re allowed to do,” Hartin said.

“When there were death threats against me and my mother, Global Affairs didn’t offer to protect us even if you reiterate your fears a thousand times.”

In 2017, a Toronto woman named Francesca Matus and her American boyfriend were brutally murdered the night before she was to return home from Belize. The U.S. sent in the FBI and U.S. Marshals.

Canada did nothing.

The first two episodes of White Devil have dropped.

bhunter@postmedia.com

@HunterTOSun

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