A man accused of murder, attempted murder and a hate crime in an attack on a Palestinian American boy and his mother pleaded not guilty on Monday following his indictment by an Illinois grand jury.
Joseph Czuba, 71, is charged in the fatal stabbing of six-year-old Wadea Al-Fayoume and the wounding of his mother Hanaan Shahin on 14 October. Authorities said the victims were targeted because of their Muslim faith.
Shahin told police that Czuba, her landlord in Plainfield in Will county, was upset over the Israel-Hamas war and attacked them even as she urged him to “pray for peace”.
Shahin, 32, is recovering from multiple stab wounds. Hundreds of people attended her son’s funeral on 16 October.
The murder charge in the indictment against Czuba describes the boy’s death as the result of “exceptionally brutal or heinous behavior”. Czuba appeared in court on Monday wearing a red jail uniform, socks and slippers.
His attorney, George Lenard, entered the not guilty plea in court in Joliet, 50 miles south-west of Chicago. Czuba did not speak, looking down at the podium as he stood before the judge, and is being held in jail.
Shahin asked the public to “pray for peace” and said her son was her best friend, in a statement issued last week through the Chicago chapter of the Council on American-Islamic Relations.
The stabbings were part of rising hostility against both US Muslim and Jewish communities, which is escalating amid the crisis in Israel and Gaza, after Hamas massacred around 1,400 people in southern Israel on 7 October, also taking more than 200 hostages from there into Gaza, prompting a massive military retaliation by Israel.
Last week Muslim, Jewish and Christian leaders came together at an event in Chicago to urge unity across divides and denounce hate.
