A MAN stabbed his ex, then bolted from her home with their little boy and killed himself and the toddler in a suspected murder-suicide.

Marco Velocci, 28, and three-year-old son Alex James died instantly when the dad’s car ploughed into an articulated truck near Oola, Co Limerick, yesterday morning.

6 Little Alex James died in the horror crash

A source indicated “several witnesses” saw Velocci’s black Audi estate car veer across the road into the path of the lorry which had been travelling in the other direction.

Earlier, mother-of-two Jodie Power, 26, sustained stab wounds during a violent assault at her Oola home.

Her estranged partner Velocci had called to the bungalow at around 8am yesterday and attacked her with a sharp blade.

Velocci, described as “kindhearted” and a “loving dad”, then sped away with little Alex in his motor, leaving the wounded woman behind.

6 Gardai at scene after they arrived to find the bodies of toddler and his dad following head-on collision

Shortly afterwards, cops responded to a fatal head-on crash just three kilometres away on the N24 — the main Limerick-to-Tipperary road.

As paramedics treated Jodie’s stab wounds at the home she shared with her two sons, the bodies of Alex and her “childhood sweetheart” were discovered at the smash scene.

The toddler was discovered lying on the road, near the front wheel of the car, while carpenter Velocci’s remains were found inside the Audi.

6 Scene of the crash

Irish police, Gardai, carefully placed a green blanket over the toddler’s body.

Father and son were pronounced dead at the scene.

Their bodies were later placed into coffins and removed by hearse to University Hospital Limerick where the State Pathologist was to carry out post mortems.

The driver of the truck, which ended up in a field, was treated for shock, but was otherwise uninjured.

A source confirmed investigators were treating the case as a suspected murder-suicide.

6 Happier times . . . Marco with son Alex

They said: “Officially we are looking at a stabbing incident at a house and a fatal road traffic collision, but we’re also probing a possible murder-suicide.”

Jodie was being comforted in hospital last night by her parents Elizabeth and Perry and other family members and friends.

The young mum also has two brothers — James and Perry Jnr.

A neighbour said James, who lives in Australia, was “on a plane home”.

The local described Jodie as a “lovely lady, a great mother and a great neighbour”.

Velocci — a member of the Emily Latin Cullen Oola gun club — was originally from Oola, but had been living in Latin, Co Tipperary.

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Paying tribute, his best friend Jonathan Ryan, also 28, said: “He was the nicest person you could meet, so friendly and quiet.

“He was never in trouble with anyone, like guards or anyone like that.

“He was one of the nicest, kind-hearted people you could meet.”

Jonathan said Velocci “loved his son” and continued: “He loved his family . . . did everything for them.

“He was a good friend to all of us, always was.

“Good-natured . . . he was taken too soon.

“I went to school with him all my life — primary and secondary school.

“The whole place is shell-shocked.

“I had to leave work. I had to. I couldn’t . . . I fell down.”

6 Stabbed . . . Ex-girlfriend Jodie

Jonathan also told of their shared passion for rural life, adding: “Marco was a great man for gun dogs, fishing, hunting, sports.

“He was fierce into his wildlife.

“He was even on the newspaper a year or two ago after he found a young baby hare.

“He bottled-fed him and nursed him back to life.

“He was fierce kind-hearted.

“There was no badness whatsoever in the man, nothing like that.

“I’m completely and utterly shell-shocked by it.

“He was a very quiet, genuine person.

“He never had a bad word to say about anyone . . . He was brilliant company.

“Every winter we’d be out shooting — pheasants, ducks, everything.

“We used to love catching rabbits with ferrets, and we’d let them off in other areas to repopulate.

“He loved the countryside.

“He was a man of the country basically.

“He literally was quiet as a mouse.

“He had one sister and one brother, that’s it. The heart of the village goes out to the families.”

6 Killed in crash...Marco and young Alex James

Velocci’s former GAA football coach John Ryan, 70, told how Marco and Jodie had been “childhood sweethearts”.

And he revealed the estranged couple had been seen out walking together with Alex just hours before yesterday’s horror unfolded.

Mr Ryan, who farms locally, said: “The three were together yesterday evening, and seemed happy . . . whatever happened there this morning.

“I know (Marco) personally and I know his partner as well, who was stabbed.

“It’s terrible.

“I can’t get over it . . . It’s a tragedy.

“They have been together for years, since they were teenagers, really childhood sweethearts.”

Local woman Mary Ann Ryan added: “It’s terrible.

“It’s tragic.

“I’m shocked — that’s all I can say.”

Velocci’s father Onorio is a well-known Italian native who has worked for many years in Limerick city chip shops.