Radio stunt backfires with teen's rape admission

A Sydney radio station breakfast show is under fire for a lie detector stunt which ended with a 14-year-old girl admitting that she had been raped.

The girl's mother phoned into 2DayFM's Kyle and Jackie O show to get her daughter to come clean on her sex and drug experiences while hooked up to a lie detector.

When asked about her sexual experiences, the girl broke down in tears and said that she had been raped when she was 12.

Host Kyle Sandilands then continued asking her questions, replying: "Right … is that the only sexual experience you've had?"

The girl's mother then admitted to knowing about the rape and co-host Jackie O pulled the plug, saying that the radio station had been unaware of the assault.

Jenny Parkes, 2DayFM general manager, later 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."

But the NSW Department of Community Services is less than impressed with the bad-taste stunt, and has launched an investigation, according to Australia's ABC News.

ABC is also quoting NSW Rape Crisis centre manager Karen Willis saying she was appalled by Sandilands' handling of the situation.

"Firstly he's ignoring that there's been a crime, but then calling it a sexual experience and then going 'oh have you had any others?" Willis told ABC.

"Goodness gracious it's a terrible crime, it's actually the second worst crime that you can commit next to murder, and to equate that with something that should be in the 'fun, safety, pleasure' type category, and to be talking about those issues with a 14-year-old."

* Source: The New Zealand Herald.