Lapses by police, Child Protective Service among five key findings

Panel finds police did not follow processes, pre-school lacked urgency in filing report

- Christine Tan

The police, Child Protective Service (CPS) and various agencies that handled four-year-old Megan Khung’s case could have done more to prevent her death in 2020, an independent review panel found.

Appointed by Minister for Social and Family Development Masagos Zulkifli, the panel released its report on Oct 23, revealing lapses at multiple points across the system.

Megan was abused and humiliated from 2019 to 2020 by her mother Foo Li Ping, and the woman’s boyfriend Wong Shi Xiang. The girl died in February 2020. Her body was burned and never found.

Foo was sentenced to 19 years’ jail on April 3. 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.

Here are the report’s five key findings.

POLICE OFFICERS FAILED TO FOLLOW PROCESSES

On Jan 17, 2020, Megan’s grandmother made the first police report about her being missing.

The investigation officer (IO) assessed that this was a case of child discipline with low safety concerns, based on factors including how the girl’s preschool, Healthy Start Child Development Centre, and Beyond Social Services (BSS), the agency operating the preschool, had deemed Megan’s case previously.

The IO told her officer-in-charge (OC) that 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 10 should have highlighted the case to her supervisor when she was unable to contact Foo, allowing the OC to guide her on the investigation approach.

The panel wrote: “Had Megan’s case been followed up on appropriately in January 2020, the likelihood of Megan being located earlier would have been higher.”

Both the IO and OC have been disciplined for not following procedures.