Wikipedia

Death of Megan Khung

Megan Khung Yu Wai (江雨惠 Jiāng Yǔhuì; 4 October 2015 – c. February 2020) was a four-year-old Singaporean girl who was allegedly killed by her mother Foo Li Ping (符丽萍 Fǔ Lìpíng; alias Chloe Foo) and Foo's boyfriend Wong Shi Xiang (王世祥 Wáng Shìxiáng) in February 2020. Three months after her death, Khung's body was burned and disposed of by the couple, who enlisted the help of a third accomplice Nouvelle Chua Ruo Shi (蔡偌诗 Cài Ruòshī) to assist them in disposing of the corpse.

Megan Khung
Born
Megan Khung Yu Wai

4 October 2015[1]
Singapore
Diedc. February 2020 (aged 4)
Lim Ah Woo Road, Paya Lebar, Singapore
Cause of deathUnknown, but allegedly murdered
NationalitySingaporean
Known forPossible murder victim
Parent(s)Simon Khung (father), Foo Li Ping (mother)

However, Khung's death went unnoticed until five months later, when authorities first got wind of her death upon the submission of a missing person's report by the little girl's grandmother on 20 July 2020. The police managed to arrest all three suspects within less than a week, and on 25 July 2020, both Foo and Wong were charged with murder, while Chua was indicted for disposal of the girl's corpse. Currently, all three suspects were awaiting trial for the roles they played in the girl's alleged murder.

Background

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Megan Khung Yu Wai, the first and only child of her parents Simon Khung (江伟南 Jiāng Wěinán) and Foo Li Ping, was born in Singapore on 4 October 2015. Khung's father, who had an older brother, had gone to prison thrice from 2015 to 2019 for drug consumption. When Khung was about eighteen or nineteen months old, her parents, who were married on 12 May 2015, divorced more than a year after they were married. Before his marriage to Foo, Khung's father was formerly married with another woman and had one son (born in 2012) before it ended with a divorce in 2012.[2]

After her parents' divorce, Khung's mother, who gained custody of the girl, began a relationship with Wong Shi Xiang, and went to live with him. Khung was cared for by her maternal grandmother, who doted on her granddaughter and shared a close relationship with her. Subsequently, Foo wanted to bring her daughter to live together with her and Wong. Khung's grandmother, who strongly disapproved of her daughter's relationship with Wong, objected to Foo bringing her granddaughter away, and Khung herself also did not want to stay with her mother.[3] Still, Foo went ahead with the arrangement, and left with her daughter in September 2019. Afterwards, Foo cut off all contact with her mother, ex-husband and former-in-laws. The girl's father and paternal relatives had requested that they take care of the girl but had their requests rejected by Foo, who insisted on raising Khung herself.[4]

Khung's death and disappearance

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On 20 July 2020, after months of not seeing her granddaughter, Megan Khung's grandmother, who sensed that something was wrong, made a missing persons report to the police. Earlier on, Khung's grandmother received a letter about her daughter's hospitalization from 29 June to 3 July 2020, in addition to an ominous dream about her grandchild, and these signs made her suspicious about Khung's disappearance. Khung's paternal uncle and other family members of her father's side were also beginning to suspect something was wrong.[5]

Four days later, after the police established that the girl was no longer alive, Foo Li Ping and her boyfriend Wong Shi Xiang were both arrested and expected to be charged with murder.[6][7] It was revealed through first-hand information that the girl was allegedly killed at the couple's condominium at Lim Ah Woo Road, Paya Lebar in February 2020, and the couple sought the help of a friend three months later in May 2020, and disposed of the child's corpse by burning it in a metal barrel at Paya Ubi Industrial Park (Wong's former workplace). The friend who abetted the disposal of Khung's body was also arrested as well.[8]

Altogether, three suspects were arrested for Khung's alleged murder.

Criminal charges

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On 25 July 2020, five days after their arrests, 33-year-old Wong Shi Xiang and 24-year-old Foo Li Ping were both charged with murder in relation to the death of four-year-old Megan Khung Yu Wai. Under the Penal Code, offenders convicted of murder would face the death penalty. The third suspect, 30-year-old Nouvelle Chua Ruo Shi, was charged with assisting the couple to dispose of the little girl's corpse. The charge of disposing of a corpse to prevent detection of an offence carried a sentence of up to seven years' imprisonment. Additionally, Wong also faced seven other unrelated charges, including drug consumption, drug possession, methamphetamine trafficking in November 2018, and possessing two Samurai swords. He was also charged with assaulting a man in November 2018 by hitting and kicking him several times.[9][10]

On 30 July 2020, Wong, Foo and Chua were all ordered to be remanded for investigations,[11][12][13] as well as to undergo pre-trial psychiatric evaluation. Foo's family members engaged lawyers to represent Foo, and in the end, out of two defence counsels engaged by her family, Foo chose one of them, consisting of Josephus Tan and his associates Cory Wong and Marshall Lim, while the other, led by Peter Keith Fernando, was discharged. Wong engaged Vinit Chhabra to defend him.[14] On 3 August 2020, the remand order was extended for one week. Chua's lawyer Thangavelu objected to the further remand of his client on the grounds that her charge was not murder, but of disposal of a corpse, which do not warrant the death penalty like murder, and stating that Chua's case would be heard at the State Courts rather than the High Court, where trials for capital cases like murder were conducted. However, the objection was overruled by the district judge, who went ahead with the extension on the account that the prosecution needed more time to gather evidence to determine the roles played by each of the trio in Khung's death.[15][16]

After the end of her prolonged remand order, Chua was eventually granted bail of S$50,000 on 13 August 2020, and thus released from prison with conditions to abide to, like curfew hours and wearing an electronic tag. Foo and Wong were still remanded in prison as murder suspects were not allowed to be released on bail.[17] In September 2020, the psychiatric assessments of Wong and Foo were completed, but they remained in remand pending further investigations and trial.[18][19]

Trial

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As of 2024, both Wong and Foo are awaiting trial for murder, and Chua is also currently pending trial for the disposal of Khung's corpse.

Response and impact of case

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When the alleged murder of four-year-old Megan Khung was brought to light, many Singaporeans were shocked and appalled at the case, with many expressing sympathy for the girl while some condemned the couple, especially Foo for her responsibility behind the death of her daughter.[20] Khung's 63-year-old grandmother was devastated at the death of her granddaughter, and struggling with the need to work as a cleaner and take care of her own 82-year-old mother (also Khung's great-grandmother), Foo's mother was also afraid of losing Foo, who was her only child and daughter, but stated her daughter should take responsibility for what she did.[21][22] As for the paternal relatives of Khung's family, Khung's uncle (her father's older brother) expressed his rage and sadness at the plight of his niece, and stated he could not forgive Foo for doing such a terrible thing to her own flesh and blood, and he added that if Foo could not take care of herself, she should not have made the decision to raise Khung by herself.[23][24] Both the maternal and paternal relatives of Khung hoped to conduct a funeral for Khung.[25]

The death of Megan Khung also made an impact on the life of her biological father Simon Khung (aged 36 in 2023). Khung's father, who became addicted to drugs since age 16, stated that after finding out the death of his daughter, although he was heartbroken about the news and felt regret for not fulfilling his duties as a parent, it caused him to finally get himself together and quit taking drugs. Khung's father stated that after his third period of incarceration and release from Changi Prison (where he served all his three sentences) in 2019, he struggled with overcoming his addiction withdrawal symptoms and filled with both self-loathing and depression, and even attempted to commit suicide at one point. The death of his daughter served as a wake-up call for Khung's father to finally quit drugs for good,[26][27] and hence first started to stay at a half-way house. Not only did Khung's father found a stable job, study part-time and rebuilt his life, he partnered with the other former drug users to constantly advocate against drug consumption and spoke up about the dangers of drug use.[28][29] Khung's father was named as the first ambassador of the Singapore Anti-Narcotics Association (SANA) in June 2024.[2]

Khung's father also did not neglect to commemorate his daughter from time to time, and he still missed her even after she died.[30] Since 2023, Khung's father operated a clothing brand and a production company, and also shared his experiences on TikTok under his alias "Simonboy",[31] and he married for the third time in July 2024.[32] Aside from advocating against drug use, Khung's father additionally expressed that he supported the death penalty for drug traffickers, citing that if it was completely abolished, the drug situation in Singapore would grow worse with more young people becoming drug abusers and ruining their lives as he and the other ex-abusers had in the past.[33]

See also

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Other cases of murder with the bodies disposed by burning

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Other cases of murdered children in Singapore

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References

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  1. ^ "撞交警案被捕乘客自揭-4岁女遇害后已改过不碰毒". Sin Chew Daily. 31 October 2021.
  2. ^ a b "Singapore Anti-Narcotics Association names its first ambassador". The Straits Times. 28 June 2024.
  3. ^ "4岁女童遭焚尸案 外婆曾极力反对女儿恋情". Oriental Daily (in Chinese). 28 July 2020.
  4. ^ Wong, Lester (26 July 2020). "Woman charged with murdering her daughter insisted on raising her on her own, says brother-in-law". The Straits Times.
  5. ^ "痛失孙女-怕再失女儿-女童外婆曾反对女儿恋情". Johor China Press (in Chinese). 28 July 2020.
  6. ^ Chua, Nigel (25 July 2020). "2 to be charged with murder of 4-year-old girl in S'pore, including girl's mother". Mothership.
  7. ^ "Man and woman to be charged with murder of woman's 4-year-old daughter". The Straits Times. 24 July 2020.
  8. ^ Wong, Shiying; Wong, Cara (25 July 2020). "Man and woman charged with killing woman's 4-year-old daughter and burning her body". The Straits Times.
  9. ^ Ishak, Syahindah (26 July 2020). "Man, 33, & woman, 24, charged with murder of 4-year-old girl at Paya Lebar condo". Mothership.
  10. ^ Luo, Miaoting; Chen, Yujia (25 July 2020). "疑杀亲生女后塞桶焚烧 少妇与男友被控谋杀弃尸". Lianhe Zaobao (in Chinese).
  11. ^ Wang, Yinghui (30 July 2020). "【焚尸案】涉案三人再过堂 女童母与男友对话被制止". Lianhe Zaobao (in Chinese).
  12. ^ Tang, Louisa (30 July 2020). "Mother accused of killing her 4-year-old child cries in court; has remand extended for further investigations". TODAY.
  13. ^ Lam, Lydia (30 July 2020). "Mother accused of killing 4-year-old daughter, burning her corpse sobs in court as she is remanded further". CNA.
  14. ^ Alkhatib, Shaffiq (3 August 2020). "Lawyers engaged to represent trio allegedly linked to 4-year-old's murder". The Straits Times.
  15. ^ Ang, Matthias (7 August 2020). "Paya Lebar 4-year-old's murder: Defence for woman involved in corpse disposal objects to remand". Mothership.
  16. ^ Lam, Lydia (3 August 2020). "Mother accused of killing 4-year-old daughter picks her lawyers, defence for co-accused objects to remand". CNA.
  17. ^ Ishak, Syahindah (13 August 2020). "Murder of 4-year-old at Paya Lebar: Couple remanded another 3 weeks to undergo psychiatric evaluation". Mothership.
  18. ^ Alkhatib, Shaffiq (3 September 2020). "Further remand for man and woman accused of murdering her 4-year-old daughter and burning her body". The Straits Times.
  19. ^ Ishak, Syahindah (3 September 2020). "Paya Lebar 4-year-old's murder: Mother cries in court, case adjourns 4 weeks for investigations to complete". Mothership.
  20. ^ "新加坡小女孩惨遭亲妈谋杀焚尸！亲属首发声..." Sohu.com (in Chinese). 29 July 2020.
  21. ^ Tseng, Wan-yu (28 July 2020). "孙女遇害独生女被捕 又要照顾病母 清洁工处境堪忧". Lianhe Zaobao (in Chinese).
  22. ^ "狮城焚尸案 女童外婆忧失女儿". eNanyang (in Chinese). 28 July 2020.
  23. ^ Jiang, Xinru; Wu, Ruiming; Xiang, Huifei; Wu, Yijin (26 July 2020). "【焚尸案】女童大伯怒斥：毁自己就算 为何要带走孩子？". Lianhe Zaobao (in Chinese).
  24. ^ "女童大伯痛斥:毁自己就算 "为何要带走'培根'？"". eNanyang (in Chinese). 27 July 2020.
  25. ^ "杀女童铁桶焚尸案 祖母外婆拟为孙女招魂". eNanyang (in Chinese). 29 July 2020.
  26. ^ Xiang, Huifei; Jiang, Xinru (31 October 2021). "撞交警案被捕乘客称 4岁女遇害后已改过". Lianhe Zaobao (in Chinese).
  27. ^ Cai, Weiqian (21 January 2023). "爱女遇害后顿悟未尽父责 前嗜毒者决心戒毒 借TikTok宣导远离毒品". Lianhe Zaobao (in Chinese).
  28. ^ Yee, Jonathan (7 August 2022). "2 S'poreans Break Free From Years Of Drug Addiction, They're Now Business Partners & Bros For Life". Must Share News.
  29. ^ Koh, Sarah (20 January 2023). "Sana tree-planting day: How former self-professed 'menace to society' finally said 'no' to drugs". The Straits Times.
  30. ^ "撞交警案被捕乘客自揭-4岁女遇害后已改过不碰毒". Sin Chew Daily. 31 October 2021.
  31. ^ Lim, Ainslyn (18 October 2023). "'I downloaded all the dating apps': Ex-convict-turned-TikTok star Simonboy on the first thing he did after his 2-year stay at a halfway house". TODAY.
  32. ^ "新加坡网红Simonboy"77"在中途之家娶妻". Lianhe Zaobao (in Chinese). 7 July 2024.
  33. ^ Ching, Shi Jie (26 January 2024). "'Singapore's strict for a reason': Former drug abusers share what will happen if the death penalty is abolished". AsiaOne.
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