Co Armagh man threatened to beat, rape and kill four women working for Babestation TV, Craigavon court hears
A Co Armagh man threatened to rape, beat and kill four women who worked for Babestation TV ‘until they were only recognisable by their tattoos’, a court has heard.
Robin Duke, aged 47, from Trasna Way, Lurgan appeared before Craigavon Magistrates Court on Friday pleading guilty to the improper use of public electronic communications on dates between July 1, 2024 and December 1, 2025.
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The court heard that on December 17 last year, Thames Valley Police received a report from a woman who works for a firm called Cellcast which covers customer service for Babestation TV.
She received an email from the defendant stating he’d been stalking four women since April 2022 and that email ‘was essentially his admission to those offences’, a prosecutor told the court.
"The defendant also disclosed that he was previously convicted for harassment,” he said.
"Police received evidence where the defendant had been posting on social media messages and images of the females named and who are employed by Babestation TV at the time.
"He stated he was going to kill them, rape them and beat them so they would only be recognised by their tattoos and during these posts he would tag the various females,” said the prosecutor.
He revealed the reporting person provided a statement but the victims mentioned did not and were not willing to do so.
Duke’s barrister, Ms Ciara O’Neill, described the facts of the case as “extremely unpleasant”.
She said the defendant “clearly realised his behaviour was unacceptable and it was getting out of hand because he was the one who contacted Customer Services and ultimately brought these events to light”.
“He essentially confessed he had been sending all these horrific messages to these employees,” she said.
Ms O’Neill referred to Duke’s pre-sentence report, adding that her client has a “limited but completely relevant criminal record”.
She said he has seven criminal convictions for offences which date back to 2011 and 2013 but there is a “significant gap” of more than 10 years in offending.
"He has been very frank with Probation about how this offence and indeed previous offences on his record have occurred and although he doesn’t have an addiction to alcohol he has recognised there is a link between alcohol and when these messages occur,” said the barrister.
"You will also see from the report that Mr Duke recognises that he has trouble managing his anger and his sexual needs. He disclosed these messages, in his words, because he wanted to come clean and potentially gain some sort of support,” said Ms O’Neill, adding the defendant appears an “isolated individual”.
Ms O’Neill also pointed out that a Probation Order may deal with her client’s attitude and beliefs to women as well as his sexual motivation behind the offending.
District Judge Michael Ranaghan described it as “an unusual case” and “abhorrent behaviour”. He told Duke that had the women come forward as complainants “it would have been in a different court and the result would have been very different”.
"You have an attitude to women that needs to be fixed,” he said.
He sentenced Duke to 18 months Probation with 80 hours Community Service.