SINGAPORE: The Ministry of Social and Family Development (MSF) said on Friday (Apr 11) that it will carry out a "further review" on the case of the fatal abuse of four-year-old Megan Khung.

The review will cover the responses of all parties - from the preschool and social service agency, to the Early Childhood Development Agency (ECDA), the Child Protective Service and the police.

"It will include additional information that Beyond Social Services (BSS), the social service agency affiliated to the preschool attended by Megan, had shared with us after our statement was issued. Once the review is done, the conclusions will be published," said MSF.

Megan died in February 2020. She was abused by her mother Foo Li Ping, 29, with her then-boyfriend Wong Shi Xiang, 38, for months before the latter inflicted a fatal punch on the girl.

Foo was sentenced to 19 years’ jail, while Wong got 30 years’ jail and 17 strokes of the cane. 

Earlier this week, MSF said that BSS' report did not fully describe the severity of Megan's injuries, leading to "inadequate interventions" before her death.

A staff member spotted Megan's injuries in March 2019, and the girl was withdrawn from preschool in September that year. She was killed in February 2020, but her death was only discovered five months later.

On Tuesday, MSF and BSS detailed the actions they took from when Megan's injuries were seen until shortly before her death.

It was also revealed that a police report had been made the month before she died.

On Friday, MSF said that its statement earlier in the week was issued with the intention to identify areas to strengthen measures to keep children safe.

"Since then, we have received feedback that the statement may have come across as implying that certain parties could have done more to avoid the tragic death of Megan Khung," MSF said.

"In fact, our aim is to continually strengthen our system, so that we can better protect our children. Everyone, including government agencies, has a part to play in this process."

The Singapore Children's Society on Wednesday said a "collective failure" of the system led to Megan's death.

It added that while there might have been "shortcomings" in how the preschool had surfaced the abuse concerns, Megan's preschool teachers had been "very quick to pick up" on the physical signs of abuse.

The preschool and BSS had tried "multiple times" to raise their concerns to higher authorities, including ECDA, to seek their advice.

The Children's Society, which runs service centres for vulnerable children, is not involved in the case.

WHAT HAPPENED

Megan was enrolled in 2017 at the Healthy Start Child Development Centre, a preschool run by BSS.

The girl stopped attending preschool in early February 2019, but returned on Mar 19 that year.

When Foo took her daughter to the preschool, a staff member noticed bruises on the girl’s face, arms and feet and asked the mother about it. She lied that some of the injuries were because Megan fell off a bicycle, even though they were caused by Wong.

She admitted that she inflicted other injuries found on Megan, but claimed these arose as part of her disciplining the girl. The staff member told the mother that this manner of discipline was excessive for a child of Megan’s age.

Three days later, another staff member reiterated to the couple that there should not be any form of physical punishment on the girl, and warned that any breach would result in a referral to MSF.

On Sep 17, 2019, Foo withdrew Megan from the preschool, claiming it had not taught Megan the Chinese language.

Megan moved in full-time with Foo and Wong, and the abuse escalated. She died in February 2020, with the couple burning her body in May that year.

Her death was not discovered until July 2020, when her father, Mr Khung Wei Nan, known online as Simonboy, lodged a police report. Foo and Wong were then arrested.