‘He’s killing my baby,‘ mother testifies in Plainfield Township hate crime murder trial

Hanan Shaheen testified in Will County court Tuesday about the 2023 brutal knife attack that left her seriously wounded and led to the death of her 6-year-old son.

Joseph Czuba, 73, of Plainfield Township, is on trial this week on charges alleging he attempted to murder Shaheen, 33, and killed her son, Wadee Alfayoumi, by stabbing him 26 times. Czuba is charged with committing a hate crime against the mother and child based on their Islamic beliefs.

Wadee died several days after he turned 6.

In opening statements on Tuesday, Will County Assistant State’s Attorney Michael Fitzgerald told the jury that Wadee was stabbed all over his body, including the neck, shoulder, chest, abdomen and hands.

Fitzgerald said the attack happened because Shaheen and Wadee were Muslim and Czuba was afraid the Oct. 7, 2023, Hamas-led attack on Israel “was going to come to his doorstep.”

Fitzgerald said jurors were going to learn that Czuba compared Shaheen and Wadee to “infested rats.”

Kylie Blatti, one of Czuba’s attorneys, told the jurors that Czuba is “presumed innocent of every single charge that he is facing today.” She said the jurors were going to have to brace themselves for evidence that will disturb them.

But Blatti contended there are “holes in the state’s case.” She asked jurors to hold prosecutors to their burden of proving Czuba guilty beyond a reasonable doubt.

Shaheen is the first witness called in the case. Her testimony was still ongoing as of Tuesday afternoon.

She testified that she told Czuba and his then wife, Mary Czuba, that she was Muslim and from Jerusalem before entering into a lease agreement to live at their residence in 2021. Mary Czuba has since divorced her husband.

Shaheen described her relationship with Mary Czuba as “very good” and her relationship with Joseph Czuba as “fine.” She said Wadee’s relationship with the Czubas was good.

But the relationship changed after the attack on Israel, Shaheen said. Czuba asked her if she watched the news and later told her he needed her to move out of the residence so his friend could stay, she said.

Shaheen said Czuba told her that “your people” are killing “Jewish babies” in Israel and told her that “Muslims are not welcome here.”

Shaheen said she notified Mary Czuba of her interaction with her husband but she did not feel the need to move out based on that phone call. She said Joseph Czuba would continue to tell her, “Muslims are not welcome here.”

On Oct. 14, 2023, Shaheen described hearing a consistent knock on her door that was so “annoying” that Wadee told her to open the door.

She said when she opened the door, Czuba was standing there and screamed, “I told you to move out of my home!”

Shaheen said Czuba once again told her that “you people” are killing Jewish babies in Israel and that she was “not doing anything about it.”

In response, Hanan said she told Czuba, “Pray for peace.”

Shaheen said Czuba said “Muslims must die” and he pushed her. She said Czuba climbed on top of her and tried to strangle her and break her teeth. She said she fought back and was able to wrestle the knife away from Czuba and stab him.

At one point, Shaheen said, “Please, let’s go to the hospital,” but Czuba continued to attack her. Shaheen said Czuba told her son, “Wadee, I’ll take care of you,” and that he would raise him.

Shaheen said she heard Czuba say, “Don’t tell people I killed your mom.”

Shaheen said Czuba left the area and she went into a bathroom at the residence, called 911 and locked the door because she was afraid Czuba would return.

Shaheen said she heard her son screaming, “Oh no, stop!”

Shaheen said she stayed in the bathroom because she felt like she would die any second. She said was too “scared to do anything.”

Jurors heard an audio recording of Shaheen’s 911 call, where she repeatedly said, “He’s killing my baby” to the police dispatcher.

“I am in pain,” Shaheen was heard saying on the audio recording. She said, “I am too scared to do anything.”