An Illinois man, 73-year-old Joseph Czuba, has been convicted of murder and a hate crime for the brutal killing of 6-year-old Wadea Al-Fayoume, a Palestinian American boy, on October 14, 2023.
The attack took place in the boy’s family home in Plainfield, Illinois, just days after the October 7 Hamas attack in Israel.
Czuba, who was the landlord of the apartment the boy and his mother, Hanan Shaheen, rented, stabbed both mother and child. Shaheen survived the attack, but her son, Wadea, was fatally stabbed 26 times.
Prosecutors revealed that Wadea’s body was found naked, with a knife still lodged inside him. The boy’s mother testified that she could hear him scream, “oh no, stop!” as Czuba attacked him.
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Czuba also reportedly referred to the victims as “infested rats” during a conversation with law enforcement, and he had allegedly told Shaheen, “You, as a Muslim, must die” after the October 7 attacks.
Following the killing, Czuba was also convicted of attempted murder and multiple other charges. His defense attorneys argued that the investigation was missing key evidence, but the jury found him guilty.
This case has been widely regarded as an anti-Muslim hate crime, as Czuba’s actions were motivated by the recent Israel-Hamas conflict, according to prosecutors and the testimony provided in court.
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