April 2017
Megan and Foo, who is divorced, move in with Foo’s mother. Megan is about one-and-a-half years old.
May 2017
Megan enrols in Healthy Start Child Development Centre’s (HSCDC) Playgroup.
January 2019
Foo moves to a rented condo after entering into a relationship with Wong.
Her mother and Beyond Social Services (BSS), which operates HSCDC, did not know the address of this apartment.
End-January to March 2019
Megan is absent from preschool more frequently.
Mar 19, 2019
After a lengthy absence, Megan returns to school.
Her teachers detect several bruises during a routine check and inform the preschool and BSS community workers.
When asked, Foo says some of the bruises were due to disciplinary action inflicted by her. Others were because Megan fell while cycling.
In the end, the community workers deem this to be a case of excessive discipline on the basis that Foo was willing to work with HSCDC on other ways to discipline her daughter.
HSCDC develops a temporary care plan to keep Megan safe.
Under this plan, Megan stays overnight at her grandma’s home. Only the grandma can drop off and pick up the girl from the preschool.
17 days later
Apr 5, 2019
HSCDC’s principal submits an incident report on the bruises to the Early Childhood Development Agency (ECDA).
The report was not submitted earlier as the principal was away on leave.
In the email, the preschool principal informs ECDA of an “incident relating to disciplining methods by a mother towards her child at home”.
The injuries were described as “bruises on Megan’s face, arms, thighs, feet, buttocks”.
But in fact, this differed from what Megan’s teacher actually observed. The discrepancy only came to light after Megan died.
The teacher noted 16 different injuries, including:
The photos of these injuries never made it to the incident report.
April-August 2019
Megan attends preschool regularly.
Her teacher and community workers made sure all parties followed the temporary care plan.
They also sought to hold a meeting to address concerns and alternative care arrangements.
Foo initially agreed, but the session didn’t take place as she gave excuses to put off the meetings.
Sep 5, 2019
Megan’s last appearance at her preschool.
Sep 10, 2019
Megan’s grandmother informs HSCDC that her granddaughter was unwell, and she was being cared for and staying with Foo.
This was a breach of the temporary care plan.
Grandma later informs the teacher that Foo would bring Megan back to school on Sep 17, but this didn’t happen.
Community workers are unable to contact Foo.
Between Sep 20 and Sep 25, 2019
The BSS community worker is concerned for Megan’s safety and is unable to ascertain her whereabouts as Foo became unresponsive.
BSS calls the Ministry of Social and Family Development’s (MSF) Child Protective Service (CPS) twice during this period.
But the gravity of the situation was not communicated clearly.
Instead of a full description of Megan’s bruises, the community worker only described “a lot of bruises”.
There was also no mention of a breach in the temporary care plan.
Although Megan’s bruises and suspected drug use by Foo and Wong were brought up, the situation was downplayed after BSS said the grandma “feels the child is fine”.
The CPS officer takes the grandmother’s word rather than professionally assessing Megan’s safety.
The CPS officer also advises that if Megan’s grandmother is worried about the child’s safety, she can make a police report.
It was also found that the CPS officer involved didn’t register the calls, which was the established protocol.
As a result, the call was not discussed further with the supervisor on duty.
Sep 25, 2019
The BSS community worker also contacted HEART@Fei Yue (HFY) Child Protection Specialist Centre (CPSC) about Megan’s case.
CPSCs are funded by MSF to manage child abuse cases and offer support such as safety planning and counselling to address the risks posed to the children.
Sep 26, 2019
HFY CPSC proposes to BSS to set up a meeting with all the relevant parties.
However, BSS notes that disclosing the meeting could prompt Foo and Wong to cut ties with the grandmother, further hindering efforts to locate Megan.
The grandmother asks if the meeting could go ahead with just her present.
Sep 27, 2019
HFY emails back agreeing that Megan’s whereabouts and welfare were “a pressing concern”.
However, it “could only take in this case if we have the address of the natural mum, to locate Megan”.
The meeting with Megan’s family did not happen.
Between September and October 2019
BSS stays in touch with Megan’s grandma to advise her to make a police report.
She was initially still in contact with Foo.
The grandmother was unwilling to make a police report over fears that Foo would go further into hiding.
The BSS worker also informally checks with police officers on the case, and the general advice given was to make a police report.
CPS and ECDA had said the same.
Throughout, the impression was that only a family member could lodge the police report.
This isn’t true, as the law doesn’t restrict who can make a police report.
November 2019
Foo blocks her mother’s calls.
Grandma asks her son, Foo’s brother, to contact Foo sometime in November to December 2019. He was told by Foo not to interfere with her affairs.
4 months since Megan was last seen at her preschool
Jan 17, 2020
Megan’s grandma finally makes a police report.
The Investigation Officer (IO) assigned assesses the case to be a case of child discipline with low safety concern, while taking into account Megan is with her mum.
The Officer-in-Charge (OC) notices Megan’s case and plans to raise it for discussion in the regular case review sessions by supervisors the next day.
He didn’t do so after the IO said she will follow up with contacting and tracing Foo.
Next two weeks
The IO fails to locate Foo and Megan.
She was subsequently deployed for COVID-19-related duties.
She didn’t follow up on the case thereafter.
Feb 20, 2020
Megan dies after months of abuse.
6 months after first report lodged
Jul 20, 2020
Megan’s grandmother lodges a second report.
So did Megan’s biological father, Mr Khung Wei Nan, better known by his online moniker Simonboy.
He had last seen Megan and Foo in February 2017 before he went to jail. He was released in 2019.
The case was classified as a missing persons case.
Jul 23, 2020
The police find Foo and Wong and arrest them for murder with common intention.
Jul 24, 2020
The couple’s friend, Nouvelle Chua, gets arrested and charged for the concealment, desecration and disposal of Megan’s body.
5 years after the arrests
Feb 28, 2025
Foo pleads guilty to three charges allowing the death of a child, child abuse and impeding investigations by disposing of a corpse.
Her boyfriend, Wong, pleads guilty to four charges of culpable homicide, impeding investigations by disposing of a corpse, drug trafficking and drug consumption.
Apr 3, 2025
Foo is sentenced to 19 years’ jail.
Wong is given 30 years in jail and 17 strokes of the cane for his charges.
Chua’s case is still pending.
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