Look at this headline and tell me what it means:
"29-year-old woman allegedly stabbed in the neck with a screwdriver"
Allegedly? Was she not stabbed or is it that they don't know what stabbed her?
This is on the story's first line:
"A 39-year-old male is in custody after allegedly stabbing a 29-year-old woman in the neck"
I wish people would pay attention to what they say. When writing, it's very important to make sure that the words you've chosen actually convey the true idea.
It’s poorly written and the meaning unclear.
Nah, she allegedly stabbed someone else.
So you're alleging that someone stabbed her but that she was definitely stabbed so it might have been a ghost for all we know?
This is from many decades ago, cops charged a man for a crime and once in court no witness actually saw the man do the crime. And if acquitted the person could sue sue for defamation.
She slipped and fell on the screwdriver he was holding.
He was driving a screw really hard and lost control of his tool.
They heard the word "screw" used as a substitute for word "fuck" and thought it was a variant position that required hardware.
It's safer to hedge the language. What if her injuries weren't from being stabbed with a screwdriver but something else instead? She might say she was stabbed with a screwdriver, but we don't know that for sure yet.
"Woman suffers neck injuries from apparent screwdriver stabbing" would convey the same information and be correct.
I think the "allegedly" is for legal purposes. Since he hasn't had a trial yet, he is innocent until proven guilty.