Man arrested on charges of breaking into a Downtown Miami woman’s apartment to rape her

Police arrested a man Tuesday they said broke into a woman’s Downtown Miami apartment and sexually assaulted her, while he was out on probation for a similar crime.

In late August, a 20-year-old woman was sitting out on her apartment balcony when she noticed a strange man standing in her kitchen. Her roommates had only left five minutes earlier, she told Miami police.

The woman approached the man, who police identified as 26-year-old Diontae Blackman of Miami, to ask him what he was doing inside her home but could not communicate with him well as she does not speak English fluently, according to Blackman’s arrest report.

That is when Blackman took his right hand and ran his thumb across his neck with the top of a broken glass bottle, according to his arrest report. The woman told police out of fear for her life she followed him into the bedroom where he proceeded to rape her, police said.

After assaulting her multiple times, the woman told police he went to the bathroom before leaving the apartment. The woman then rushed to call her roommate to tell her what had happened.

Police say security footage captured a man entering the apartment lobby, and a neighboring Ring camera later showed him entering the victim’s apartment.

The victim’s roommate told police she was returning home with her boyfriend when the victim called to describe her assailant. Near the lobby, they spotted a man matching the description and tried to stop him.

Though they managed to briefly restrain him, he broke free, pushed the roommate, and fled the scene, police said.

A rape kit was done on the victim at the Roxcy Bolton Rape Treatment Center and police say they obtained forensic evidence.

Blackman was arrested on Tuesday and faces multiple charges including burglary with sexual assault or battery, armed sexual assault and kidnapping with a weapon.

He is currently jailed at Turner Guilford Knight Correctional Center and was given no bond as of Wednesday afternoon.

Repeat offender

This is not the first time Blackman has been locked up for similar crimes, court records show.

In 2021, he faced a slew of charges including burglary with sexual assault or battery, armed sexual assault and kidnapping with a weapon. Court records show he was only convicted of burglary with sexual assault or battery and sentenced to 22 months in prison.

He was on probation at the time of his arrest on Tuesday.

Miami Herald news partner CBS Miami reported in 2021 that Blackman had followed a woman into her Brickell apartment and sexually assaulted her.

He used a metal pipe to strike her multiple times, the TV station reported.