SINGAPORE: In Parliament on Wednesday (Nov 4), Minister of State for Home Affairs and Social and Family Development Goh Pei Ming said that a serious breach had occurred in the case of Megan Khung, the four-year-old girl who died in February 2020 after more than a year of abuse by her mother, Foo Li Ping, and her mother’s then-boyfriend, Brian Wong.
“It was a serious breach, and it resulted in a tragic outcome. The police will learn from this and reinforce procedures and training for its officers,” Mr Goh said.
Mr Goh answered questions raised by Members of Parliament (MPs) in the wake of the findings of a review panel on Megan’s case that were released on Oct 23. He recounted that in 2020, after the discovery of Megan’s remains, the police reviewed how they had handled the case.
The first police report was filed in January 2020 by Megan’s grandmother. That July, the grandmother filed another report, as did Megan’s father, Simon Khung.
“The investigation officer (IO) who dealt with the first police report, and her supervisor, failed to follow police procedures to escalate the case to the regular case review sessions for monitoring and guidance. The IO had assessed this as a case of child discipline with low safety concerns based on the information that she was presented with at the time,” Mr Goh said.
In the two weeks following the report’s receipt, the IO attempted to contact the child’s mother but couldn’t. She did not follow up on Megan’s case after that, having been assigned to COVID-19-related duties.
Mr Goh underlined, however, that if the IO and her supervisor had escalated the case to regular case review sessions, it would have been followed up regardless of redeployment to other duties.
Following the subsequent police reports filed by the child’s grandmother and father, Megan’s case was referred to the regular case review sessions, which Mr Goh said eventually led to the discovery of the little girl’s death and the arrest of her mother and Brian Wong.
He added that once Meghan’s case came to light in 2020, the police launched internal investigations, and the IO and her supervisor were both disciplined. After this, the IO resigned.
“Our frontline police officers bear a heavy responsibility to protect lives. They take this responsibility seriously and perform their duties with commitment and professionalism. The demands on our Police officers continue to increase. They often have to make difficult judgment calls every day in the course of their duties. When under pressure, mistakes can happen,” said Mr Goh.
He added that the lapse occurred because two officers, under pressure, failed to follow established police procedures.
On Apr 3, 2025, Foo received a 19-year jail sentence for the incidents before, after, and leading to the death of her child. Meanwhile, Wong, who had delivered the fatal blow to Megan’s stomach, was sentenced to 17 strokes of the cane and 30 years’ jail for his part, as well as for drug trafficking and consumption. /TISG
