Megan Khung case: Woman who filmed 4-year-old’s abuse, helped dispose of body gets 13 years’ jail

SINGAPORE - A woman who took part in a conspiracy to abuse four-year-old Megan Khung alongside the girl’s mother and the mother’s boyfriend was sentenced to 13 years’ jail on Nov 13.

Nouvelle Chua Ruoshi, 36, who has a daughter, also helped her two friends dispose of Megan’s body after the girl died on Feb 22, 2020, from a punch.

The trio burned the body in a custom-made metal barrel at a car workshop on May 8, 2020. Megan’s ashes were never recovered. 

Chua is the third and final person to be jailed over the ill-treatment of Megan, who suffered physical and emotional abuse for more than a year before she died.

Upon hearing the sentence, Chua cried, dabbing her eyes with tissue paper. She looked at her relatives and friends sitting in the public gallery. They declined to speak to the media.

In April 2025, Megan’s mother, Foo Li Ping, 31, was sentenced to 19 years’ jail. 

Foo’s boyfriend, Wong Shi Xiang, 40, who threw the fatal punch, was sentenced to 30 years’ jail and 17 strokes of the cane. He also faced drug-related charges.

In sentencing Chua, Justice S. Mohan rejected her attempts to portray her actions as less heinous compared to the couple’s.

The High Court judge said while Chua may not have inflicted physical abuse on Megan, she was not a mere passive bystander.

Chua filmed Megan being humiliated on at least six occasions, including of her naked.

Said the judge: “This demonstrated extreme depravity on Ms Chua’s part.”

He added when Megan was in pain after she was fatally punched, Chua ignored the girl to consume drugs with Foo and Wong.

This transformed her from a mere bystander to a participant in acts of wanton cruelty, he said.

The judge added: “Ms Chua chose complicity and her sadistic amusement over her conscience.”

Chua’s lawyer, Thangavelu, who goes by one name, told the judge before the sentence was passed that a personal letter from Chua had been submitted to the court. Its contents were not read out.

Before Chua was escorted away by officers, Justice Mohan told Chua: “I have read your letter. You are strongly encouraged to use your time in prison to reflect on your actions.

“I see some encouragement that you have acknowledged your wrongdoing and that you wish to change. So I encourage you to use your time in prison usefully to make yourself a better person when you come out.”

Chua pleaded guilty on Oct 26 to three charges: one for conspiring with the couple to abuse Megan, one for intentional disposal of Megan’s corpse, and one for consumption of methamphetamine.

Three other charges for conspiracy to abuse Megan were considered during sentencing.

Start of abuse

In 2017, after the relationship between Megan’s parents broke down, Foo and Megan went to live with Foo’s mother.

Foo and Wong became a couple in late 2018.

In January 2019, they moved into a rented condominium unit. Megan continued to live with her grandmother but stayed with the couple on some weekends.

They began caning her in late February 2019 and early March 2019 whenever she urinated on the bed and sofa.

Staff at Megan’s preschool saw the bruises on her face and body, and warned them in March 2019 that physical abuse would be referred to the Ministry of Social and Family Development (MSF).

In July 2019, Chua and her daughter frequently stayed over at the couple’s unit during weekends. Megan was present during most of these visits.

Foo withdrew Megan from preschool in September 2019, and the girl began living with the couple that month.

Wong caned Megan at least once a week on average, occasionally slapping and punching her.

Foo did not stop him and sometimes joined him to cane Megan.

Chua saw the injuries but did not inform the authorities or seek medical help for the child.

She once dressed Megan in long-sleeved shirts and pants to hide the couple’s abuse.

Chua occasionally participated in the emotional abuse, and recorded the incidents on her mobile phone.

Once, she told Foo to make Megan eat her mucus because the crying girl was hungry.

Foo then blew her nose into a handkerchief and forced it into her daughter’s mouth.

Chua also filmed Foo slapping Megan and putting a soiled diaper over her head. Foo was angry the girl did not tell her that her diaper was full.

Chua was present when Wong forced Megan to eat food from the dustbin, because Megan had offered food to Chua’s daughter.

From January 2020, the abuse intensified.

The couple starved Megan to prevent her from defecating around the unit.

They forced Megan to be naked at home to prevent her clothes from being stained with blood from her wounds.

They also made her sleep in a planter box at the balcony, which faced the afternoon sun and Megan suffered from heat stroke on one occasion.

Chua did not stop the couple from locking Megan in the planter box, and filmed Megan when she was inside.

No medical help

Once, Wong hit Megan until her jaw became crooked. Instead of taking the child to a doctor, Foo searched online on how to fix dislocated jaws.

When Chua asked Foo about Megan‘s crooked jaw, Foo

said

Wong had hit her.

Wong tried to fix Megan’s jaw by pushing it back into place but it remained crooked.

Despite seeing Megan in an emaciated state and knowing the abuses were escalating, Chua did not take her to see a doctor or alert the authorities.

After midnight on Feb 22, 2020, Chua arrived at the unit and Wong said he had hit Megan very badly.

Chua saw Megan on the bedroom floor complaining her stomach hurt.

When the couple dismissed this as a bid for attention, Chua ignored Megan and joined Foo and Wong in the living room to take drugs.

Several hours later, Chua told the couple Megan was not moving.

Foo noticed some vomit beside Megan with clear membrane and black contents.

The trio tried to wake Megan, but she was unresponsive.

They performed cardiopulmonary resuscitation on her and Wong got a 30-cm tube which they used to blow air into Megan’s mouth.

Even though Wong found a defibrillator near their unit, he did not bring it back afraid that removing it would trigger alarms and lead the authorities to Megan.

Foo realised her daughter was dead and sent a message in a WhatsApp group chat between the three of them, “Megan is gone”.

After Wong returned to the flat, he desperately took two wires and taped a metal chopstick to each end which he then inserted into a three-pin power source.

Wong placed one wire on Megan’s chest and the other wire below her chest, to resuscitate her to no avail.

Wong told Foo and Chua to smoke drugs and blow the smoke through a tube into Megan’s mouth, to see if she would respond.

They did so, but Megan remained unresponsive.

Silent till the end

Chua did not seek help because she feared her own wrongdoing would come to light.

Over the next few months, the couple stayed in hotels and serviced apartments and discussed how to dispose of Megan’s body. Chua was aware of the discussions.

On the day of the incineration, she accompanied Foo and Wong to retrieve the body from the unit and joined them to burn incense paper in the barrel.

On July 20, 2020, Megan’s father, Khung Wei Nan, made a police report saying he was concerned about Megan’s whereabouts and safety.

Khung, a businessman and content creator known as Simonboy, said he last saw them in February 2017, after which he was incarcerated for drug offences.

Foo, Wong, and Chua were arrested on July 24, 2020.

After Foo and Wong were sentenced, MSF said it would conduct a further review of the responses of all the parties involved in handling the case.

A report released in October 2025 identified lapses at multiple points across the system.

This included a Child Protective Service officer failing to log calls from the girl’s pre-school seeking help, and police officers not following procedures after Megan’s grandmother reported her missing on Jan 17, 2020.

A new MSF unit was set up to analyse data from law enforcement and other agencies to flag potential cases of child abuse earlier.