Mother of Palestinian American boy slain in suburban Chicago hate crime testifies at trial

JOLIET, Ill. (AP) — A suburban Chicago Muslim mother described to jurors Tuesday how she hid in a locked bathroom and called 911 after her landlord brutally attacked her with a knife and then fatally stabbed her Palestinian American son in another room.

Hanan Shaheen was the first witness to testify at the murder and hate crime trial of 73-year-old Joseph Czuba. He is charged with wounding Shaheen and killing her six-year-old Wadee Alfayoumi in October of 2023. Authorities said Czuba targeted the family because of their Islamic faith and as a response to the war between Israel and Hamas that erupted on Oct. 7, 2023 with a Hamas attack on southern Israel.

Prosecutors played the emotional 911 call Shaheen made to report the crime that happened just days after the war started.

“The landlord is killing me and my baby!” she screamed to the dispatcher multiple times, according to a recording of the call played in court. “He’s killing my baby in another room!”

Czuba has pleaded not guilty to three counts of first-degree murder, one count of attempted murder and other charges. He wore a suit and tie to court, his greying hair falling past his shoulders. Later it was tied into a bun. Czuba did not speak as he watched the proceedings.

Will County Public Defender Kylie Blatti urged jurors to consider each piece of evidence carefully because key parts were missing.

“Go beyond the emotions to carefully examine the evidence,” Blatti said during opening statements. “It is easy to get lost in the horror of those images.”

The family had been renting two rooms from Czuba and his wife, who also lived at the home where the murder happened in suburban Plainfield, nearly 40 miles (65 kilometers) from Chicago.

Prosecutor Michael Fitzgerald, a Will County assistant state’s attorney, told jurors they’d hear explicit details about the crime including how Czuba removed a knife from his belt holder and attacked the family. Fitzgerald described each of the 26 stab wounds to the boy’s body.

“He could not escape,” Fitzgerald said facing jurors during opening statements. “If it wasn’t enough that this defendant killed that little boy, he left the knife in the little boy’s body.”

Shaheen testified at the courthouse in suburban Joliet, about 45 miles (72 kilometers) from Chicago, that she had not previously had any issues in the two years they had rented from the Czubas. They shared a kitchen and living room with the Czubas in the home.

Then after the start of the war, Czuba told her that they had to move out because Muslims were not welcome. She urged him to “Pray for peace.” Later, he confronted Shaheen and attacked her, holding her down, stabbing her and trying to break her teeth.

“He told me ’You, as a Muslim, must die,” said Shaheen, who mainly testified in English but had an Arabic translator on standby in her primary language. She occasionally turned to the translator for clarification while testifying. But during cross examination, she sought more direct translation often addressing her translator who sat next to her instead of attorneys.

Defense attorney George Lenard asked detailed questions about conversations she had with police at the scene and while she was in the hospital, but Shaheen said she didn’t remember specifics. At times it appeared as though she had trouble understanding what Lenard was getting at.

After the attack, Shaheen said was scared and locked herself in the bathroom, noting blood all over her body and the room. She called 911 when she heard her son screaming in another room.

Yelling could be heard on the background of the call, which Shaheen said was her son. As the roughly 15-minute recording played in court, Shaheen put her head down, clutching a tissue paper in her hand. Attorneys showed photos of her bloodied face at the hospital.

The boy — whose name was initially spelled Wadea Al-Fayoume by authorities — was later pronounced dead at a hospital. Shaheen had more than a dozen stab wounds and it took her weeks to recover.

The attack on the family in Plainfield renewed worries of anti-Muslim discrimination in the Chicago area's large and established Palestinian community. The proceedings also come amid rising hostility against Muslims and Palestinians in the U.S. since Hamas attacked Israel in October 2023.

Hundreds attended the boy’s janazah, or funeral service, where the boy was remembered as kind and into sports and Legos. In January, Shaheen met with then-President Joe Biden.

Separately, the father of the boy, who is divorced from Shaheen and did not live at the home, has filed a wrongful death lawsuit. He attended the court proceedings Tuesday along with an uncle.

Shaheen, who has also filed another civil lawsuit, has retained prominent civil rights attorney Ben Crump. He said Shaheen would not talk to reporters during the trial, which is expected to last about a week.

“Hanan Shaheen continues the unimaginable fight for justice for Wadee,” he said in a statement. “We have confidence in the prosecution’s efforts to earn justice for Wadee and Hanan.”