Joseph Czuba has been convicted of murdering 6-year-old Wadee Alfayoumi, a hate crime fueled by the Plainfield landlord’s hostility toward Palestinians and his anger over the Hamas attack against Israel on Oct. 7, 2023.
A Will County jury deliberated for for just over an hour before reaching a verdict of guilty. Czuba did not display any visible signs of emotion when the verdict was read.
The panel also found him guilty of attempted murder of the boy’s mother, two counts of aggravated battery and two counts of committing a hate crime.
Czuba, 73, faces life in prison without parole. He did not testify during the four-day trial. Sentencing is scheduled for May 2.
Wadee’s murder on Oct. 14, 2023, heightened concerns about anti-Muslin discrimination in the Chicago area amid the then-escalating war between Israel and Hamas. Illinois has more Muslims per capita than any other state in the country due in large part to the more than 85,000 Palestinians who live in Cook County.
At the time of Wadee’s fatal stabbing, his mother, Hanan Shaheen, had been renting rooms for about two years from Czuba and his wife in their unincorporated Plainfield home.
Shaheen testified that she had no issues with Czuba until the Israel-Hamas war began. After the Oct. 7 attacks, he grew angry with her because she was Muslim and was from Jerusalem, she said.
She said Czuba told her “Muslims are not welcome here” and that “your people” are killing Jews and babies.
He demanded that she move out of the home, Shaheen told jurors. Czuba — who also withdrew $1,000 from the bank in case financial systems were affected by the war — said he needed to rent her rooms to a friend.
Shaheen said she assured him she was looking for a place. She also told him to “pray for peace.”
On Oct. 14, Czuba knocked on Shaheen’s door and physically pushed her after she answered, she said.
“I told you to move out of my home,” Czuba told her, Shaheen testified, adding that he was screaming about the war.
She said he also climbed on top of her and tried to strangle her. He stabbed her multiple times in the chest, mouth, neck, across her cheek and near her eye, according to authorities.
At one point, Shaheen testified that Czuba told Wadee that Czuba and his wife would raise him but that he could never tell anyone that Czuba killed his mom.
Shaheen said she fought back during the attack but believed she was dying. She wasn’t seeing clearly and was swallowing blood, she said.
She was able to lock herself in the bathroom and call 911. That’s when he began attacking Wadee, she said.
“He’s killing my baby with a knife,” Shaheen told the dispatcher, according to a recording played in court.
After his arrest, Czuba was captured on a police camera saying Wadee and Shaheen made him fear for his life. He also likened them to “infested rats.”
“I begged her to get out for three days,” Czuba says on the recording. “She would not leave.”
Wadee — who had just celebrated a birthday — spent the final morning of his life eating breakfast with his mother, helping her change the sheets on their beds and playing an educational game on a cellphone. He was getting ready to take a shower when Czuba attacked them, his mother said.
Shaheen and Wadee’s father, Odai Alfyoumi, were divorced. Odai Alfayoumi has been in court every day to watch the proceedings.
The kindergartner loved basketball, soccer and Legos.
Michelle Mullins is freelancer.
