The Nine network show A Current Affair has thrown another left-curve in the Kyle & Jackie O rape victim affair with claims from family members suggesting that the rape never happened.
“’Rachel’ (not her real name) told me when she was 13 that she had sex with a boy”, an Aunt said. “She told me the boy’s name. She had very much regret for it because she was so young”.The family member believes the girl told her truth about the relationship with the boy and lied on the radio. “I have a very close relationship with Rachel. She looks to me as a friend, not an aunt”, she said.
The A Current Affair report delved into Rachel’s background, and alleged that she had prior problems and run-ins with the law.
“She has not taken in what she has done. She has caused so much trouble for Kyle, Jackie O, the family”, the Aunt said. “I don’t believe she was raped. They were in her room. They were drunk. There was another girl on the top bunk. And this boy who was accused also had time to put a condom on”.
One of the Aunts said that she doesn’t have any sympathy for the girl at all. They have sympathy for Kyle Sandilands.
So does that change anything for Kyle and Jackie O? Not in the slightest. They agreed and encouraged the under age girl to go on the program, allowed her to get hooked up to a lie detector, and allowed the questioning to go to air, without using a 7-second delay and without her consent. The girl said she was made to do the stunt.
The innocence of the girl will not be what the ACMA investigation will be about when it gets underway. ACMA will be looking at the policies that were in place that allowed this to go to air in the first place.
The problem for Kyle and Jackie O is the comment Kyle made immediately after the girl announced she had been raped. “Right ... is that the only experience you’ve had?”, he callously asked.
In an industry where you are only as good as your last show, Kyle’s future in Australian radio will be judged but that one line.
Austereo is undertaking its own investigation into internal policy. Two weeks on the company is yet to indicate if it has reviewed its policy.
As a footnote, it has also been pointed out to Undercover that a story we ran earlier on the Kyle and Jackie O scandal was misinterpreted by some to mean that Group Program Director Guy Dobson was involved with the stunt.
That is not the case and not the intent of the mention of his name. Guy Dobson was mentioned in context of being the Group Program Director and a director of Austereo. As such, in his position, he is responsible for everything that comes out of the speakers on the Austereo Network, including the on-air talent.
Any suggestion that Undercover was blaming Guy Dobson for being involved in the content of the stunt is false and we have apologised to Mr Dobson for the misunderstanding.
Watch the A Current Affair interview here:
