Yes. And again, yes, steroid abuse might well have been a factor in what happened (but if it was, Pistorius is still responsible for what he puts into his body and the known potential side effects).
To be clear: given that I believe Pistorius was correctly found guilty of murder, and given his other convictions, undisputed evidence of certain aspects of his personality, and the way he has acted and behaved since about one minute after Steenkamp's death.... I conclude that Pistorius acted despicably and with disgusting arrogance and sense of entitlement. And I would think - and hope - that he has now abdicated any claim to be a role model, and that no sponsor or public figure would want to associate with him. I believe he probably has/had a deeply unpleasant, narcissistic character disorder and massive control issues around women. And, as I said, I believe he most likely killed Steenkamp, knowingly, in a vicious rage after commencing a verbal and physical assault in the bedroom.
But........... the criminal justice system and the penal system exists in modern democratic liberal societies to try to address these sorts of issues in the best (or least-worst) fashion. People who are proven to have committed crimes such as Pistorius' deserve to be treated harshly by the criminal justice and penal systems. He ought to be removed from the general population by being imprisoned for many years (IMO no fewer than 10, given the gravity of the offence - and by that I mean 10 years actually served in prison, rather than a sentence of 10 years' imprisonment). This serves multiple purposes: it is direct punishment for the offender; it allows society to consider itself at no risk from the offender while in prison (and, if carefully monitored, even beyond release from prison); it serves as a tangible form of justice for the victim and the victim's family; it acts as a deterrent to others; and - lastly but importantly - it offers the prospect of reflection, learning and rehabilitation to the offender.
In this particular case, I would like to think that Pistorius will receive an amended sentence which means that he will spend at least 10 years in prison. I would hope that within this time of incarceration, Pistorius will (sooner or later) come round to honest self-analysis and realisation. And I hope that the tools and people will be available to him in prison to better himself and rehabilitate himself mentally, in preparation for a physical rehabilitation into society (albeit under careful monitoring). If Pistorius remains in denial or continues to try to game the system, then I would hope that those who run the system will take steps to ensure that he remains behind bars for longer. And I hope that Steenkamp's family will come to some sort of peace that everything that can/should be being done IS being done to serve justice - that's justice as it's defined in a modern liberalised democratic context, rather than mob rule, eye-for-an-eye and so on.
By the way, is it actually known with any degree of confidence that Pistorius did indeed cut his own wrists? Or is it still little more than unconfirmed rumour? I know the prison service put out a statement, but IIRC that only referred to him "falling out of bed" or something. Has that now been revised?
