Landlord guilty of murdering Palestinian American boy in Illinois attack – National

A jury has discovered Illinois landlord Joseph Czuba responsible of homicide and hate crime fees for a brutal 2023 assault on a Palestinian American household that killed a six-year-old.

Czuba, 73, was charged within the fatal stabbing of Wadee Alfayoumi and the wounding of his mom, Hanan Shaheen, on Oct. 14, 2023 in Plainfield, about 64 kilometres from Chicago.

Authorities alleged the household — who had been renting rooms in Czuba’s home — was focused due to their Islamic religion and as a response to the battle between Israel and Hamas that had erupted only a week earlier.

When police had been known as to the residence they discovered Czuba sitting close to the driveway with a laceration on his forehead.

The six-year-old boy later succumbed to his accidents in hospital. An post-mortem revealed that the boy was stabbed 26 occasions all throughout his physique with a 30-centimetre-long serrated military-style knife.

The mom, who was age 32 on the time of the assault, suffered over a dozen stab wounds.

Czuba had pleaded not responsible. He confronted homicide, tried homicide, aggravated battery and hate crime fees in an eight-count indictment.

The jury deliberated for simply 90 minutes earlier than returning their verdict Friday morning.

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Through the trial, the courtroom was proven graphic images of the homicide and police video footage central to the prosecutors’ case. There have been moments the video screens had been turned away from these seated within the gallery, together with the boy’s household.

“If it wasn’t sufficient that this defendant killed that little boy, he left the knife within the little boy’s physique,” Michael Fitzgerald, a Will County assistant state’s lawyer, informed jurors throughout opening statements.

One of many vital components of the trial was Shaheen’s testimony and the 911 she made to report the crime that occurred simply days after the battle began. She mentioned they’d not beforehand had any points within the two years they rented from the Czubas — they shared a kitchen and lounge with them.

After the battle started, Czuba informed her that they needed to transfer out as a result of Muslims weren’t welcome. Later, he confronted Shaheen and attacked her, holding her down, stabbing her and attempting to interrupt her tooth.

“He informed me, ’You, as a Muslim, should die,” mentioned Shaheen, who testified in English and Arabic by means of a translator.

Individually, civil lawsuits have been filed over the boy’s dying, together with by his the daddy, Odai Alfayoumi, who’s divorced from Shaheen and was not dwelling with them on the home.

“I don’t know if I ought to be happy or upset, if I ought to be crying or laughing,” Odai mentioned at a information convention Friday, talking in Arabic.

“Persons are telling me to smile. Possibly if I had been one among you, I might be smiling, however I’m the daddy of the kid and I’ve misplaced the kid. And I really feel like this resolution got here a little bit too late.”

0:35Lady arrested in reference to attainable hate crime at pro-Palestinian protest

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— With recordsdata from The Related Press

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