Illinois man sentenced to 53 years: The man is sentenced for the hate crime of murdering a 6-year-old Palestinian-American boy
Joseph Czuba, 73, fatally stabbed Wadee Alfayoumi and seriously injured the child's mother days after the 2023 Israel-Hamas war began.
A 73-year-old Illinois man was sentenced on Friday to 53 years in prison for the racially motivated murder of a 6-year-old Palestinian-American boy and the attempted murder of the child’s mother in an attack linked to the outbreak of war between Israel and Hamas in October 2023.
Joseph Czuba, appearing frail and dressed in a red prison uniform, was sentenced by Will County Judge Amy Bertani-Tomczak. He was convicted in February of first-degree murder, attempted murder, aggravated battery, and hate crimes. The victim, Wadee Alfayoumi, was stabbed 26 times in Czuba’s home in Plainfield Township, a Chicago suburb, where Wadee and his mother were renting rooms.
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"You had no right to take him": Family speaks as court delivers life-equivalent sentence
In court, Wadee’s great-uncle Mahmoud Yousef addressed Czuba directly, saying, “Whatever the sentence is, it will not justify Wadee’s death... On the day he was murdered, his father had memories, dreams for his son.” Yousef then turned to Czuba and added, “You had no right to take them.”
Czuba also attacked Wadee’s mother, Hanan Shaheen, stabbing her more than a dozen times. She survived and later testified that Czuba had shouted anti-Muslim slurs, blaming “your people” for violence in Israel and stating Muslims were not welcome in his home.
Plainfield Township residents pay tribute to the boy killed for racially motivated murder. Photo: The New York Times
Sentencing details and hate crime motivation
Czuba received 30 years for Wadee’s murder, 20 years for the attempted murder of Shaheen, and an additional 3 years for committing a hate crime. All sentences will be served consecutively. Czuba declined to speak in court and appeared to have no family present for support.
Witnesses said Czuba's actions followed anti-Muslim tirades in the wake of the October 7 Hamas-led attacks in Israel. Defense attorneys requested that the verdicts be overturned, but the judge denied the motion before issuing the sentence.
