Updated 9.30pm
POST-MORTEMS HAVE been carried out on a father and his three-year-old son who were killed in a road crash in Limerick yesterday.
The examinations on the bodies of Marco Velocci and his son Alex James were carried out this evening by assistant State pathologist Dr Louise Mulligan at University Hospital Limerick.
The cause of their deaths is not likely to be known until after an inquest at the Limerick County Coroner’s Court.
Before the crash, gardaí were alerted to a house in Oola, Co Limerick where they discovered local woman Jodie Power who had received stab wounds.
Power told officers that her ex-partner Velocci had taken their son from the house in a black 2005-registered Audi car.
Velocci and his son died when the car they were travelling in collided with a truck at around 8.30am at Brooks Bridge, on the Limerick to Tipperary stretch of the N24, between Pallasgreen and Oola.
The boy and his father were killed instantly in the collision.
The deceased man is originally from Oola but had been living in Lattin, Co Tipperary.
It’s understood he and his son’s mother had been going through a legal separation.
The boy and his father were “pronounced dead at the scene”, gardaí said.
The boy was found lying on the road at the crash site while Velocci was found inside the car. The truck was discovered in the field.
Sources said Gardai had not yet interviewed Jodie Power, the mother of the deceased toddler and ex partner of Mr Velocci.
The 26-year old mother of two suffered stab wounds during a domestic incident with Mr Velocci, who then fled her home with their son.
“Tragedy”
Local Fianna Fáil councillor Noel Gleeson told TheJournal.ie this morning that the community was in shock following the incident.
“It’s very sad, and for the boy to be killed is such a tragedy,” said Gleeson.
These tragedies happen everyday and there’s no answer to them.
“For the truck driver too, he wasn’t expecting it and it’s very sad.”
The truck driver was not injured in the incident but was being treated yesterday “for shock”, gardaí said.
Gleeson said that Velotti had been involved in local activities in the area and was known well.
“My sympathies are with the family, it’s such an awful tragedy,” he said.
“A great neighbour”
Jodie Power’s parents, Elizabeth and Perry, from Oola, were yesterday being comforted by family and friends.
The young mother, who has an 18-month-old baby from a separate relationship has two brothers, James and Perry Jnr.
Her brother James, who lives in Australia was “on a plane home”, a neighbour said yesterday.
They described her as a “lovely lady, a great mother, and a great neighbour.”
Marco Velocci, who was a member of the Emly Lattin Cullen Oola (ELCO) gun club, was originally from Oola, but had been living in Lattin, Co Tipperary.
Paying tribute, his best friend Jonathan Ryan said: “He was a great man for gun dogs, fishing, hunting sports – they were our 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 bottle-fed him and nursed him back to life. He reared him for a few months and left him off again.
There was no update on the investigation from gardaí this morning. A post-mortem is due to be carried out today on the bodies.
Gardaí at Bruff have appealed for witnesses to the collision and anyone who travelled on the road between 8am and 8.30am today to contact them at 061 382940.
- First published 09.10am
-With reporting from David Raleigh
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