S'porean woman, 36, who helped dispose of Megan Khung's body & filmed abuse, gets 13 years' jail

Content warning: This article contains graphic descriptions of a child abuse case. Nouvelle Chua Ruoshi, the woman who filmed the fatal abuse of four-year-old Megan Khung and helped dispose of her body afterwards, was sentenced to 13 years' jail on Nov. 13. The 36-year-old previously pleaded guilty to conspiring to abuse Megan, disposing of her corpse, and taking drugs. On Nov. 13, she was sentenced on all three charges. Chua appeared in court on Friday (Nov. 13) dressed fully in black, including a mask and cap. The courtroom's public seating was filled. Megan's mother, Foo Li Ping and Foo's boyfriend Wong Shi Xiang, were previously sentenced to 19 years' and 30 years' jail, respectively, on Apr. 3, 2025. They were then 29 and 38 years old, respectively, during sentencing. Sentencing submissions The prosecution initially sought 13.5 years' jail for Chua, while the defence sought six years and four months' jail. During a tense hearing on Oct. 26, both parties sparred on the nature of Chua's culpability, with the prosecutor noting that Chua, alongside Foo and Wong, had robbed Megan of "basic dignity" over a prolonged duration of abuse. This included occasions where Chua participated in the abuse, such as the mucus-eating incident and when she paraded Megan in public with make up on her face, and her recordings of the abusive acts, which he said had "minimal difference" to the abuse committed by Foo and Wong. Finally, Chua participated in "achieving the final objective" of disposing of Megan's body, despite not being the orchestrator of the plans. The defence, represented by lawyers from Trident Law, alluded to Chua being less culpable than her co-accused as she did not physically abuse Megan in any way. The defence lawyer also pointed out that Chua freed Megan from the planter box during some of her visits and argued that she only helped dispose of Megan's body "on the instructions of Wong and Foo". However, after being told by the judge that Chua had pleaded guilty to conspiring with Foo and Wong to abuse Megan, the defence was asked to file further submissions on the charges to be taken into consideration. Sentencing decisions During the sentencing hearing on Nov. 13, the judge noted that the defence had asked for a 30 per cent discount to her sentence, arguing that Chua had pleaded guilty early. But the judge dismissed this, saying that she pleaded guilty more than a year after Foo and Wong did, and the couple did not get a full 30 per cent discount. He also disagreed with Chua's plea for a lower sentence because she was less involved in the disposal. He argued that her culpability in aiding in the disposal was not less than Wong and Foo. Chua had known Megan's body remained in a box for two months as the couple plotted to get rid of it, and she was the one who bought the joss sticks and vinegar to help mask the smell of decomposition, the judge noted. Neither was Chua less culpable than Foo in terms of abusing Megan, he found. While she did not directly inflict abuse on Megan, she was not just a passive audience, but filmed the acts on at least six occasions, he said, adding that Megan was filmed in "extreme states of deprivation". The judge also pointed out that by filming the abuse, including on some occasions where Megan was naked, Chua had created the risk of circulation of the clips to others who may derive perverted pleasure from watching them. It was not explained why she had filmed the videos, nor whether they were shared with Foo, Wong, or anyone else. For the disposal charge, Chua was handed five years and six months' imprisonment. She received another six years and six months' jail for conspiring with Foo and Wong to abuse Megan, and one year's jail for consuming drugs. All three sentences are to run consecutively. In total, the judge sentenced Chua to 13 years' jail, backdated to her date of arrest on Jul. 24, 2020. It also excludes the period she has been out on bail, which began on Aug. 13, 2020. Chua was seen in tears after the sentence was delivered. In his concluding remarks, the judge acknowledged a letter Chua had personally written and submitted to the court, though its contents are not known. He also encouraged her to use her time in prison to reflect on her actions. Chua was then taken into custody. Abuse of Megan Khung Foo and Wong had subjected young Megan to severe physical and psychological abuse over a period of 13 months. They caned and hit the child repeatedly, starved her, and humiliated her by shaving her head and drawing on her face before parading her in public. Chua's culpability in the abuse of Megan Khung The offences were committed from February 2019 onwards in a unit at the Suites@ Guillemard condominium in Paya Lebar rented by the couple. Chua was a friend of Foo and Wong and frequently visited the couple with her daughter, at times even staying over on weekends. She was also entrusted with the care of the girl, whom she brought out with her own daughter. She had noticed bruises on Megan since November 2019, but did not do anything to stop the abuse. On some occasions, Chua noticed Megan was bleeding from the caning. On one occasion, she covered her in a long-sleeve t-shirt to hide the bruises so Foo and Wong’s abuse would not be exposed, prosecutors previously said in court. Phone recordings Chua sometimes recorded the abuse on her mobile phone. The clips were played in court during a previous hearing. In some of them, Megan was naked with visible bruises covering her emancipated body. She was often seen crying and begging her abusers for leniency. She also repeatedly asked for a T-shirt from Foo while naked in one clip, but was ignored. In one instance, Chua could be heard telling Foo to make Megan eat her mucus after the girl complained she was hungry. Foo then blew her nose into a handkerchief before forcefully smearing it on Megan's tongue. In another video, Chua and Wong paraded the crying girl in public while Megan's face had red marks drawn all over it as punishment for playing with make up. "Let's go gai gai (outing in Mandarin)," Chua could be heard saying jovially over the video. The day Megan Khung died On the night of Feb. 21, 2020, the day prior to her death, Megan was fatally punched in the stomach by Wong after being scolded. The impact caused her back to hit the wall 10cm away with a loud thud. Past midnight, Chua arrived at the unit to see Megan lying on the bedroom floor, clutching her stomach and saying she was in pain. When Chua told Foo and Wong about this, the couple dismissed it, saying the child was just trying to get attention. The three then gathered in the living room to take drugs together. Hours later, Chua saw Megan in the same position and alerted Foo, who found some vomit with "clear membrane and black contents" beside Megan. The three tried to wake Megan, but she was unresponsive. They then took turns performing cardiopulmonary resuscitation (CPR) on Megan but were unsuccessful. Disposing the corpse Megan's body was left in the unit for months with the air-conditioning turned on. After the couple decided on what to do with her body, Chua was instructed by Wong to buy vinegar and other items used to mask the smell of decomposition. They also ordered a custom-made barrel to burn Megan's body, while Wong wrapped the corpse using a blanket, then layers of cling wrap, and brown tape, before putting it in a Toyogo storage box. On May. 8, 2020, the three adults collected the barrel and two boxes of charcoal that were procured on Wong's instructions. Chua then drove Wong to the residence with knowledge of Wong's and Foo's plans to dispose of the corpse. At 5:25am that day, they returned to the unit to collect the box containing Megan's corpse. At 6:10am, Wong set up the metal barrel at an open area near his godfather's workshop in Ubi and burnt Megan's corpse in it. Foo and Chua brought incense paper over and they also burned that in the barrel for several hours. After the fire stopped, Wong brought the ashes to East Coast Park in a trash bag and scattered them into the sea. Drug consumption Chua was also found guilty of consuming drugs. She had started consuming ICE in January 2020 and consumed the drug two days before her arrest, and the court heard.