Kyle and Jackie O’s
Lie Detector segment turned to
disaster today when a 14-year-old girl - dragged on the 2Day FM
radio show by her mother -
angrily revealed she had
been raped.
The girl, who had been brought on to undergo a lie detector test
about her mother's concerns about her drug and sex experience, told
Kyle Sandilands before the questions started: "I’m scared ...
it's not fair."
The mother told the presenters she was worried about her
daughter's use of drugs and partying, before going on to ask the
teenager if she ever skipped school.
The mother then asked her daughter: "Have you ever had sex?"
The 14-year-old replied: "I’ve already told you the story
about this ... and don’t look at me and smile because
it’s not funny."
After a pause she then raised her voice and said: "Oh OK
… I got raped when I was 12 years old."
Sandilands hesitated before asking "Right ... is that the only
experience you’ve had?"
The girl’s mother interrupted, saying she found out about
the rape only "a couple of months ago".
Jackie O then said they would drop the lie detector test as they
had been unaware of the rape incident.
'Appalling'
Karen Willis, manager at the NSW Rape Crisis Centre, said the
segment was "appalling on a number of levels".
"First, an adult person asking a child about their sexual
experiences is not on, and to do that in a public arena is quite
frankly harassment of a child," she said.
"Then when [the girl's] answer came, to glibly ask whether she'd
had any other experiences, rather than getting her off air as soon
as possible … it's abuse of a child really."
Ms Willis said it was clear the girl’s mother did not
understand the impact sexual assault had on a child.
"I have serious concerns about [the] mum and her behaviour and
I’m hoping there has been some sort of report," she said.
"It sounds like she’s tried to tell [her] mum and she
hasn’t taken it seriously.
"[Rape is] a serious crime that a little girl should not have to
experience and, at 12, she is a little girl."
'Didn't know'
2DayFM general manager Jenny Parkes issued a statement saying:
"All due care and consideration was given to the family and clearly
we didn’t know anything about the incident.
"The moment we became aware of it was live on air and we shut it
down as soon as we possibly could.
"As is only appropriate, we are offering all the assistance we
can to the family, including counselling, in what is of course an
extraordinarily difficult situation."
The NSW Rape Crisis Centre operates a 24-hour counselling
service for victims of sexual assault. Call 1800 424 017. You can
also phone the DOCS Helpline on 132 111.
As reported by The Age