The grandmother of a murdered five-year-old boy says she felt trapped in a violent relationship that she could not escape from.

Maria Pienaar is now left grieving the brutal loss of her grandson at the hands of the very man who allegedly controlled and abused her for months.

A candlelight vigil was held in Windhoek in memory of 19-year-old Pius Kalipa.

Family, friends, and community members marched from the Katutura Youth Centre to the riverbed behind the Swapo Party headquarters, the site where Kalipa's body was discovered on the 28th of May.