Illinois Landlord Who Fatally Stabbed 6-Year-Old Palestinian-American Boy Gets 53 Years in Prison

Joseph Czuba murdered his 6-year-old tenant Wadee Alfayoumi soon after the Oct. 7 attacks in 2023

An Illinois landlord who fatally stabbed his 6-year-old Palestinian-American tenant soon after the Oct. 7, 2023, attacks was sentenced to more than 50 years in prison on Friday, May 2.

Joseph Czuba, 73, was sentenced by Judge Amy Bertani-Tomczak of Illinois’ 12th Judicial Circuit, The New York Times reports. He had been convicted in February on murder, attempted murder, and hate crime charges for murdering 6-year-old Wadee Alfayoumi and stabbing the boy’s mother, Hanan Shaheen, who survived.

At trial, Shaheen testified that her family had rented rooms from Czuba at his Plainfield home for two years without incident, per the Associated Press. But he seemed to grow more paranoid following Hamas’ Oct. 7 attacks on Israel, which sparked the ongoing war in Gaza.

Following the attacks, Shaheen testified that Czuba told her the family had to move out because they were Muslim, AP reported. She told him to “pray for peace” in response.

6-year-old boy killed in anti-Muslim attack in Illinois, authorities say

On Oct. 14, a week after the attacks, Shaheen said Czuba forced his way into her room and stabbed her over a dozen times. When she fled to the bathroom to call 911, Czuba attacked Wadee, stabbing him 26 times and leaving the knife in the little boy’s body, the BBC reported.

“He told me ‘You, as a Muslim, must die,’” Shaheen said on the stand, per the AP.

Jurors were presented shocking crime scene photos and audio from Shaheen’s 911 call, where she screamed “the landlord is killing me and my baby,” the AP reported. Police testified to finding Czuba outside the home covered in blood after responding to the 911 call.

Jurors deliberated for just 90 minutes before delivering the verdict against Czuba, per the AP.

“This happened because this defendant was afraid that a war that started on Oct. 7, 2023 — a half a world away in the Middle East — was going to come to his doorstep,” prosecutor Michael Fitzgerald told jurors, according to the Times. “This happened because Hanan and Wadee were Muslim.”