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Source: ONE News
Radio show hosts Kyle Sandilands and Jackie O have publicly apologised for putting a 14-year-old girl into a situation where she was forced to reveal on air that she had been raped.
Insisting that the controversial discussion on their 2Day FM program on Wednesday morning was not a sick stunt, Sandilands and Jackie also lashed out at media outlets that accused them of "getting a kick" out of the incident.
The girl was strapped to a lie detector because her mother had expressed concerns "she was running around with the wrong crowd", Sandilands explained on his program on Thursday morning.
When her mother asked the teenager if she was sexually active the girl replied: "I've already told you the story about this ... and don't look at me and smile because it's not funny."
Raising her voice she then said: "Oh, OK, I got raped when I was 12 years old."
Sandilands responded by saying: "Right, is that the only experience you've had?" before the segment was brought to an end.
He has since said he wished he had been more clever with his choice of words, and was critical of a comment by the Nine Network's Today show host Karl Stefanovic which maintained he had refused to apologise over the incident.
"This could not be further from the truth," Sandilands said.
"I've apologised to anyone who was offended that heard it.
"I've apologised to the girl.
"I've even apologised to the mother."
Jackie added there were no red flags raised before the girl's disturbing statement.
"Unfortunately we had no idea what was to come," she said.
"It was such a shock. It was one of those moments in radio where you just think, `What do you do?'"
Sandilands said while his response to the girl's statement was inappropriate, he instantly felt terrible for her.
"There was genuine shock," he said.
The pair has denied the interview was a set-up, as suggested by some media commentators.
"There is no way we would have wanted to put that girl in that situation," Jackie said.
"It was one of those moments, when live radio happens, sometimes you are lost for words."
Despite the public outrage that followed, Sandilands said some good had come of the incident.
"After two years, the girl is 14 now, the family can get some counselling on it," he said.
He criticised the media's interpretation of the interview.
"It was sad to watch some of the newspapers skew this in a evil way," he said.
"Some people are pointing the finger, saying we are no better than a child predator."
Louise Newman, professor of child psychiatry at Monash University, said the girl's traumatic public statement could discourage young people who had also been sexually abused from seeking help.
"Certainly it trivialises the issue," she told ABC radio.
"It was a very poor response (from Sandilands) and we now have a situation which might potentially discourage other people who have been victims of sexual abuse from actually disclosing that or discussing that in a appropriate way."
NSW Police are liaising with the Department of Community Services to establish whether there is a need for police involvement in investigating the rape of the girl, a police spokeswoman said.
