Ordinary Gweilo

Has the law been changed?  Is it OK for newspapers to tell us who committed a crime long before it even gets to court?  Are people no longer presumed to be innocent until they’re proven guilty?   Yes, it’s the SCMP:

Spiderman scales block to stab ex-girlfriend

Attacker, on bail for rape, stabs ex-lover 7 or 8 times

A woman was fighting for her life last night after a man, who police said was her former boyfriend and was on bail after being charged with rape, climbed into her 24th-floor flat in Lam Tin and stabbed her numerous times with a knife.

[..]

It is understood the victim and her former boyfriend, who lives in Sau Mau Ping, broke up early this year.

A police source said the attacker was on bail after being charged with rape last month.

Normally these stories are written with a modicum of care, so as to strongly imply who must have been responsible, without actually spelling it out. 

The Standard, for example, had this take on the story:

Police are hunting for a Hong Kong “Spider-Man” in connection with a brutal attack on a young woman.

Police said the wanted man, aged 22 – a former boyfriend of the victim – was wanted in connection with a sex offense and had jumped bail while awaiting trial.

He is being sought “in connection with” the crime.  That’s not quite the same as saying that he did it.  Three times.