Chua looking at baby photos of her late granddaughter, Megan Khung, whose pictures and toys she still keeps in her rental flat. - ST/ANN
SINGAPORE: The image of her granddaughter Megan Khung being forced to eat discarded food by her abusers is seared into Chua’s memory.
In a video played in court, one of Megan’s abusers, Wong Shi Xiang, the boyfriend of her mother, Foo Li Ping, empties a dustbin and tells her in Mandarin: “If you don’t eat, I’ll hit you.”
Her eyes reddening and voice shaking with anger, Chua, 68, told The Straits Times on Oct 24 in Mandarin: “Are they even human?”
She was especially disappointed in her daughter, Foo, who allowed Wong to abuse four-year-old Megan and even joined in the barbaric acts. Megan died after a year of abuse on Feb 22, 2020.
Chua said: “I thought Li Ping would protect Megan. Even animals would protect their young.”
On April 3, Foo was sentenced to 19 years’ jail, and Wong was sentenced to 30 years’ jail and 17 strokes of the cane. The couple’s friend was also arrested, and her case is pending.
Chua spoke to ST in a three-hour interview at her one-room rental flat, a day after a review panel released a report detailing lapses by various agencies between March 2019 and February 2020 that could have prevented Megan’s death.
The elderly woman’s eyes were puffy from crying the night before. She said the report had dredged up old memories of Megan’s suffering, which makes her tear up, five years after the girl’s death.
Cycle of abuse
Foo was Chua’s only daughter from her turbulent second marriage, where her husband would verbally and physically abuse her and Foo while drunk.
He kicked Foo for making mistakes in her homework, and threatened Chua once with a knife. She divorced him and took Foo with her after about a decade of marriage.
Chua described Foo as an obedient and kind child, but said she fell into bad company in her teens.
Foo married her first husband, Khung Wei Nan, better known as content creator “Simonboy”, in 2015 and had Megan in October that year.
Foo left the marriage and started a relationship with Wong in 2018.
When Megan turned up at her pre-school on March 19, 2019, with bruises across her whole body, her teachers alerted Chua.
Said Chua: “I cried for half an hour. She was so small, how could she fight back against them?”
She sensed Wong was trouble and repeatedly told Foo to leave him, but she refused.
Chua said: “She would have died for him.”
The review panel’s report said Megan’s teachers from Healthy Start Child Development Centre reported the injuries on the same day to Beyond Social Services (BSS), which runs the pre-school.
BSS community workers also developed a temporary care plan that day. Foo was still allowed to meet Megan, but the girl would stay overnight only at her grandmother’s home.
From March to September 2019, Madam Chua, a cleaner, took care of Megan while Foo lived with Wong.
After work, Chua would pick the girl up from school, and they would buy dinner, such as Megan’s favourite soup noodles, on the way home.
Megan was a cheerful child who liked to sing and ask her “Ah Ma” for hugs, said Chua, smiling.
Their familiar routine was disrupted on Sept 10, 2019, when Megan had a fever in school. Chua was at work and let Foo pick the child up from school.
But Foo refused to let Chua see Megan again and told her not to meddle with her affairs.
Chua said: “If I didn’t need to work, I could have taken care of Megan, and maybe she would still be here today.”
Worried about Megan’s safety, Chua called Foo regularly, but her daughter did not say where they were staying.
Chua would hear Megan’s voice on the line, calling in her usual endearing way: “Ah Ma!”
Foo suddenly blocked her calls after several weeks. The review panel’s report said a BSS community worker stayed in touch with Madam Chua and advised her to call the police.
The report said Chua was hesitant as she was worried this would make her more estranged from Foo.
Chua said: “I thought, at least Megan is with Li Ping, and she would protect her. As a mother, I know I would protect my child.”
Trusting the system
Chua made the first police report on Jan 17, 2020, after the BSS community worker told her Megan’s situation was serious as she had not been enrolled in any other pre-school.
Police told ST on Oct 23 that the police report stated Megan’s grandmother had not been in contact with Foo and Megan for some time, and there was no indication of child abuse.
Chua said: “All I knew was the police was the biggest (organisation), and they could help Megan.”
The review panel’s report said the investigation officer (IO) assessed this was a case of child discipline with low safety concerns and told her officer-in-charge (OC) she would try to find Foo. The OC did not raise this report in case review sessions.
The IO stopped pursuing the matter after trying unsuccessfully for about two weeks to locate Foo and Megan. She was later deployed for Covid-19 pandemic duties.
The police found that the IO should have highlighted the case to her supervisor when she was unable to contact Foo. The IO has since resigned while the OC was handed a financial penalty.
Megan died a month after that first police report, from Wong’s fatal punch to her stomach. Foo, Wong and their friend burned her body in a metal barrel.
The matter came to light only in July 2020, after a hospital bill for Foo arrived at Chua’s flat.
Chua said Foo was injured after being hit by Wong, and was warded for three days.
She said: “I was shocked and worried about who was taking care of Megan.”
After discussing with Khung’s family, Chua and Khung filed separate police reports on July 20, 2020. Three days later, Foo and Wong were arrested for Megan’s murder.
Said Chua: “I couldn’t eat. I couldn’t sleep. I was in a daze. The pain lasts for a lifetime.”
‘This should never happen again’
Officers from the Ministry of Social and Family Development visited Chua on Oct 22, a day before the publication of the review panel’s report, and told her about the news.
When ST asked if Chua knew of the report’s five key findings, she said: “I’m not educated. I don’t really know the details.”
On Minister for Social and Family Development Masagos Zulkifli’s apology over the handling of Megan’s case, Chua said: “I’ve got to accept it... It’s been so long. My heart is dead.”
She acknowledged it was her daughter’s and Wong’s acts that led to the tragedy.
Chua has since forgiven Foo.
In her fortnightly visits to Foo in prison, she comforts her daughter and tells her to change for the better.
She said: “Children are innocent and pure, and they need to be protected. This should never happen again.” - The Straits Times/ANN
