An Illinois man who brutally killed a six-year-old Palestinian Muslim boy and seriously injured his mother in a hate-fueled attack was sentenced on Friday to 53 years in prison, closing a chapter on a case that reignited fears of anti-Muslim violence across the U.S.
Joseph Czuba, 73, was convicted in February of first-degree murder, attempted murder, and hate crime charges in the killing of Wadee Alfayoumi and the wounding of the child’s mother, Hanan Shaheen. The attack occurred in October 2023, just days after the war between Israel and Hamas began.
Prosecutors said Czuba targeted the family because of their Islamic faith and Palestinian identity. The Alfayoumis, who had recently moved to the U.S., were renting rooms in Czuba’s suburban Chicago home in Plainfield, about 40 miles southwest of the city.
“Wadee was an innocent child,” said Ahmed Rehab, executive director of the Council on American-Islamic Relations’ (CAIR) Chicago chapter. “He was targeted because of who he was – Muslim, Palestinian, and loved. No sentence can restore what was taken, but today’s outcome delivers a necessary measure of justice.”
During Friday’s sentencing hearing, Wadee’s great-uncle, Mahmoud Yousef, was the only family member to speak. He called the sentence inadequate, saying no punishment could undo the pain Czuba inflicted. He implored the convicted killer to explain his motive, asking what news or rhetoric had driven him to violence. Czuba offered no response.
The trial revealed deeply disturbing evidence. Shaheen, the boy’s mother, gave harrowing testimony about Czuba’s sudden, frenzied attack. Prosecutors said he had become enraged by media coverage of the Israel-Gaza conflict and told Shaheen they had to leave his home because they were Muslim.
He then turned violent, stabbing Shaheen before attacking her son with a military-style knife, plunging it into the child 26 times. The blade was left lodged in Wadee’s body.
“He could not escape,” Assistant State’s Attorney Michael Fitzgerald told jurors. Police testified that the scene was so graphic the judge ordered screens displaying crime scene photos turned away from the courtroom gallery, which included Wadee’s grieving relatives.
Jurors took less than 90 minutes to convict Czuba. Illinois does not have the death penalty.
The attack devastated Plainfield’s tight-knit Palestinian community and reverberated nationwide. Many in the area have roots in the West Bank and Gaza and say they’ve long felt the chill of suspicion, especially during times of international conflict.
In the wake of the tragedy, federal authorities launched a hate crime investigation. Separate civil lawsuits have also been filed in connection to the boy’s death.
Mary Czuba, the defendant’s ex-wife, testified against him during the trial, revealing that her husband had grown agitated and consumed by news of the conflict just before the attack.
“This was not random. This was not confusion. This was hatred,” said Rehab. “And this must never be allowed to happen again.”
The sentencing marked a grim milestone in the national conversation around Islamophobia and racially motivated violence, reminders of the real-world consequences of bigotry, and of the work still left to protect the vulnerable.
