Huge update for South Australian mum potentially facing death row

The South Australian mother and her US husband were charged with the first-degree murder of their seven-year-old daughter Sanaa.

US authorities have withdrawn their bid for an Australian mother to face the death penalty if convicted of killing her stepdaughter.

Mother-of-four Lisa Marie Cunningham, 50, who is originally from Mannum in South Australia, potentially faced death row after being charged with first-degree murder over the death of seven-year-old Sanaa in Phoenix, Arizona in 2017.

Ms Cunningham was charged alongside her US husband Germayne, 45, following a ten-month investigation after the girl died from a sepsis infection in Phoenix Children’s Hospital.

Germayne Cunningham was also charged. Picture: Supplied

The couple have both spent seven years in jail. Picture: Supplied

Police allege the girl died due to injuries to her head and foot caused by her living conditions.

Court documents allege the couple shut Sanaa in their backyard, laundry and garage. They also allege the seven-year-old was forced to sleep outside and restrained with cable ties.

Lisa Cunningham with stepdaughter Sanaa (right) and Nayara (left) Picture: Channel 7

The pair were originally charged with first-degree “felony” murder which relates to a reckless indifference to human life.

However, prosecutors filed on Monday a withdrawal of their intent to seek the death penalty.

The case returns to court on Friday local time and is later set to go to trial.

The couple deny the allegations and say the girl suffered an array of serious mental health problems.

Lisa Cunningham at the Maricopa County Superior Court in 2018. Picture: Supplied

In a message to her Facebook supporter page, Ms Cunningham said her legal team was working to get bail after having now spent seven years in county jail.

“The shocking sadness of this ordeal has revealed the horrific processes that sanction governments to do the unthinkable and call it justice,” she wrote.

“To those who supported us unconditionally through our 7 years of detainment, thank you. We love you.”

Complaints made against the pair

Detectives in Phoenix claim there were numerous complaints in the lead-up to Sanaa’s death.

The first was an anonymous report of neglect of Sanaa, lodged with the Arizona Department of Child Safety on March 4, 2016.

Sanaa Cunningham, 7, died Feb. 12, 2017. Photo: GoFundMe

Australian Lisa Cunningham and her American husband Germayne were both been charged with the first-degree murder of their daughter Sanaa. Picture: Supplied

An investigator was sent to the Cunninghams’ home but the children, including Sanaa, “denied any abuse or neglect,” and the case was subsequently closed.

On October 27, the department received a second complaint and dispatched a second investigator.

Sanaa again denied that she was being abused and Germayne Cunningham again explained that the child had serious mental health and behavioural problems, for which they were seeking treatment.

On December 21, 2016, the department received a third complaint. This investigation was “still in progress” when Sanaa died in February 2017.

Originally published as Huge update for South Australian mum potentially facing death row