Plainfield, Illinois, landlord convicted of all charges in hate crime murder of 6-year-old Palestinian boy
A Will County jury has convicted a Plainfield, Illinois, landlord on all counts in the hate crime murder of a 6-year-old Palestinian-American boy, and the stabbing of the boy's mother.
Jurors deliberated little more than an hour before convicting Joseph Czuba of one count of first-degree murder, one count of attempted murder, two counts of aggravated battery, and two counts of hate crime in the attack that killed Wadee Alfayoumi and seriously injured his mother, Hanan Shaheen in 2023.
After the verdict, Wadee's father, Odai Alfayoumi, spoke out through an interpreter, describing his feeling of mixed emotions.
"I don't know if I should be pleased or upset, if I should be crying or laughing. People are telling me to smile. Maybe if I were one of you, I would be smiling, but I'm the father of a child, and I have lost the child, and I feel like this decision came too little too late," Alfayoumi said.
Alfayoumi said he's thankful for the verdict and the support he's received after his family's unimaginable loss.
"For me, I will always remember him with pride as a son," he said. "I pray that this loss, this senseless loss is the last that we will see; that no child would suffer what my beloved Wadee had to go through."
Prosecutors argued the attack was motivated by anti-Muslim and anti-Palestinian extremism, following the Hamas terrorist attack on Israel on Oct. 7, 2023. Jurors agreed.
Shaheen, who also was stabbed in the Oct. 14, 2023 attack– took the witness stand on Tuesday. It was the first time she had spoken publicly about the alleged attack. She said she was seeking justice for her son and said Czuba had previously tried to kick them out of the home after the Hamas attack on Israel.
She also recalled one exchange in which Czuba told her, "Your people is killing Jewish and babies in Israel. Muslims are not welcome here in my home."
During the trial, prosecutors showed the jury video of Czuba in the back of a squad car after the attack, saying he feared for his life, claiming, "I was afraid they were going to do jihad on me," and saying "They are just like infested rats."
Prosecutors also showed the jury graphic photos of Wadee's injuries, and called several first responders and medical staff who treated Wadee, his mother, and Czuba after the attack.
A witness recalled Czuba "had blood all over his body, on his hands, and he was sweating profusely."
Of Wadee's mother, the witness said, "I observed her to be bleeding profusely from the face."
Of Wadee himself, the witness said, "The amount of blood that was on the child, I couldn't even count the amount of stab wounds."
Jurors also heard the 911 calls from Wadee's mother, and heard the boy's screams from another room as she told dispatchers, "He's killing my baby. He's killing me and my baby. Please. The landlord is killing me and my baby."
Sources close to the family said Wadee's mother hasn't been able to return to court since she testified. She wants to remember Wadee as her son, not a murder victim.
Czuba faces life in prison without parole when he is sentenced on May 2.
