Illinois Man Sentenced to 53 Years in Killing of Palestinian American Boy

An Illinois judge sentenced a man to 53 years in prison on Friday for the fatal stabbing of a 6-year-old boy in 2023 and the nonfatal stabbing of the boy’s mother, an attack that jurors found to have been motivated by anti-Muslim hate.

The killing of Wadee Alfayoumi, a Palestinian American kindergartner who loved Legos and soccer, attracted international attention in October 2023, just days after Hamas attacked Israel. The attack on Wadee and his mother, Hanan Shaheen, was “brutal and heinous,” Judge Amy Bertani-Tomczak said as she announced the sentence of the man, Joseph M. Czuba, on murder and hate crime charges.

The authorities quickly arrested and charged Mr. Czuba after the attack. Prosecutors said Mr. Czuba, 73, had rented rooms to Wadee’s mother in Plainfield Township, Ill., for two years with no significant problems. But, they said, he had grown paranoid and violent after listening to radio coverage of the unfolding conflict in the Middle East.

In court on Friday in Joliet, Ill., Mahmoud Yousef, an uncle of Wadee’s father, said no sentence would be satisfying to the family.

Mr. Yousef said that the family could not fathom what led to such an act. “That’s more than just hate, that went way beyond that,” Mr. Yousef said. “We’re talking about a 6-year-old kid whose father had plans for him.”

He asked Mr. Czuba to explain himself.

“For peace of mind, Joseph, say something,” Mr. Yousef said as he looked directly at Mr. Czuba.