Father of 9-year-old tortured to death charged with manslaughter

The father of a nine-year-old Montverde girl who deputies say was tortured to death back in June was arrested Friday in connection to the child’s murder.

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LoJuan Sessions was booked into the Orange County Jail two days after his girlfriend, Tyshael Martin, was charged with the murder of Jamaria Sessions. Martin was arrested the day after the medical examiner ruled Jamaria’s death a homicide.

Sessions was not believed to have been home the night Jamaria Sessions died, but deputies said he permitted Martin to abuse her beyond reason and, at times, encouraged and assisted in the abuse himself.

Deputies said Jamaria Sessions, who did not have a room, bed, or toys to call her own, was frequently subjected to long sessions of running on a treadmill or in place with her arms over her head or performing an exercise move known as a “wall sit.”

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They said Martin would pinch the girl so frequently she had fingernail marks covering most of her skin.

Two days before Jamaria’s death -- after LoJuan Sessions moved out of the house following a falling out – investigators said Martin was seen on security cameras punching and kicking the weakened girl at full force, dragging her, and encouraging the family’s 103-pound rottweiler to bite her head during episodes lasting up to an hour.

They said she was also heard uttering the sentence, “I’m fixin’ to kill her.”

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Martin was alone with Jamaria Sessions in a room the night she passed away. She claimed to be asleep the entire time – but deputies said that wasn’t true.

Reports show that LoJuan’s charges stem from statements made by family members and a series of text messages between him and Martin.

“[He and Martin] often joked about the abuse, made comments about ‘bootcamp,’ and creating a torturous environment in which Jamaria would suffer long sessions of extreme exercise and extreme physical abuse, far beyond traditional corporal punishment,” his arrest affidavit reported.

Deputies said he once accused Martin of going too far, and Martin sometimes lied to him about Jamaria’s behavior so she could abuse her further. However, they said back in December, he told a deputy who responded to a wellness check request that her absence from school was due to her mother passing away, even though she died more than a year prior to their visit.

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A second wellness check in March is now the subject of an internal investigation, according to Lake County Sheriff’s Office spokesman John Herrell.

This is not the first time LoJuan Sessions has faced questions over his treatment of his children. Deputies said he and Martin were known drug dealers who exposed their children to narcotics. They also said he once fled from a traffic stop and crashed, causing two other children in the household to be airlifted to a hospital.

LoJuan Sessions is scheduled to make an appearance before an Orange County judge before being transferred to Lake County for prosecution. His charge carries a maximum sentence of life in prison.

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