JOLIET, Ill. — An Illinois man was sentenced on Friday to 30 years behind bars for the racially motivated killing of a 6-year-old Palestinian American boy, whom he fatally stabbed days after the Israel-Hamas war erupted in 2023.
Wearing a red jail uniform and appearing thin and frail, 73-year-old Joseph Czuba heard what amounted to a potential life sentence from Will County Judge Amy Bertani-Tomczak.
A jury in Febru found the landlord Czuba guilty of first-degree murder, attempted murder, aggravated battery and hate crimes for the Oct. 14, 2023, killing of Wadee Alfayoumi, whose family were tenants of the murderer.
Wadee was stabbed 26 times.
Czuba also wounded the boy’s mother, Hanan Shaheen, whom he stabbed more than a dozen times in the Chicago suburb of Plainfield Township.
Czuba declined to speak on his own behalf on Friday.
The boy’s great uncle, Mahmoud Yousef, said he was a grandfather figure to the victim.
“No matter what the sentence is going to be, it’s not going to justify” the boy’s death, the prosecution’s only witness told the court on Friday. “The day he was killed, his father had memories, had plans for his son.”
Yousef then turned to face Czuba and said: “He had no right to take them.”
The victims had been been renting rooms in Czuba’s home when he launched into anti-Muslim rants after the Oct. 7, 2023, surprise attacks into Israel by Hamas-led militant groups, witnesses said.
The boy’s mother testified that Czuba told her “your people” are killing Jewish people and babies in Israel and that Muslims were not welcome in his home.
Yousef said the killer and his victims appeared to get along before Czuba’s frame of mine seemed to spiral of nowhere.
“That’s (a lengthy sentence) not going to be enough. So for peace of mind, Mr Joseph,” Yousef said, turning toward the killer, “say something. Come up. Say something.”
Samira Puskar reported from Joliet and David K. Li from Los Angeles County.
This is a developing story. Please check back for updates.
