The family of 15-year-old Junior Pieters, who died after being stabbed over the weekend, has appealed to the media and the public to report the tragedy responsibly.

On Saturday, Junior Pieters succumbed to his injuries after a stabbing incident involving his 10-year-old cousin.

The family has dismissed reports that the minor was arrested.

The NBC News team visited their home this morning.

Once filled with the sounds of children playing, it is now overshadowed by grief.

For the two families, Saturday morning became a day that changed their lives forever.

The mother of the minor said she was taking a bath when she heard her 10-year-old son and his sister playing outside.

Irritated by the noise, she called them and told them to stop playing.

Moments later, everything went quiet, and when she stepped outside, she found her nephew, Junior Pieters, bleeding from a stab wound.

The mother said she did not witness what happened, but based on what she has been told, her son was holding a knife when he was pushed, causing him to fall and accidentally stab his cousin.

She is still trying to process the loss of her nephew while supporting her young son, who is equally traumatised by the incident.

“I am grieving; the one who has died is also my son. I am yet to gather my thoughts; it is extremely difficult. The media is not correct to say that my son was arrested; we have only been dealing with social workers.”

For Junior’s mother, Nicolene Pieters, Saturday had started like any other day. After leaving home for work, she received a call from her sister telling her that her son had been injured.

“My sister called me and told me while I was at work, I just saw darkness. My colleagues calmed me down, but now we must just come to terms with what has happened.”

The two mothers say they are standing together in their grief. They have appealed for psychological support.

Among those who visited the family was the Swapo Party Women’s Council secretary, Fransina Kahunga, who offered words of comfort and encouraged the family to find strength in faith and forgiveness.

“Dear mothers, there is a line in our prayer that says, ‘and let thy will be done; forgive us our trespasses as we forgive those who trespass against us’.”

Meanwhile, the One Economy Foundation has stepped in to support the Pieters family.

The Foundation has reached out to the family and offered immediate trauma debriefing services, as well as long-term psychological treatment and emotional support to help them cope with the tragedy.

In addition, it has also offered court preparation and vulnerable witness support services should they be required as investigations and any subsequent legal proceedings unfold.

For one family, the loss of a young life has left an emptiness that can never be filled. For another, a 10-year-old child must now grow up carrying the memory of a day that changed both families’ lives forever.