Several Will County sheriff's deputies testified on the second day of the trial about how they found Shaheen and Czuba on the day of the crime as prosecutors showed footage taken from their body-worn cameras.
“I observed a female subject, bleeding profusely from the face,” Matthew Starcevich, a deputy sheriff, said of Shaheen. After that he went outside and saw Czuba lying on the ground near the single-family home in Plainfield, about 40 miles (64 kilometers) from Chicago.
Czuba sat up when he encountered officers. Three pocket knives were nearby and officers removed a knife holder from Czuba's body. The black sheath attached to a belt was removed from a sealed evidence bag during court and held up for jurors.
The crime scene evidence comes a day after emotional testimony from Shaheen and disturbing videos of the boy's body. Prosecutors described how Czuba allegedly pulled a knife from a belt holder and stabbed the child 26 times after attacking his mother. Police said a knife was still in the child's body when he was found by police.
“This happened because this defendant was afraid that a war that had started on Oct. 7, 2023, a half a world away in the Middle East was going to come to his doorstep,” Michael Fitzgerald, a Will County assistant state’s attorney, said during opening statements Tuesday. “This happened because Hanan and Wadee were Muslim.”
Czuba has pleaded not guilty. He wore a tan suit and tie Wednesday, with his greying hair falling past his shoulders. He did not appear to show emotion as he watched the proceedings.
His attorneys previewed their defense during opening statements, saying jurors should consider each piece of evidence carefully, including explicit photos and video, because key parts were missing.
“It is easy to get lost in the horror of those images,” said Kylie Blatti, a Will County public defender. “But the prosecution can’t convince you of their case simply by showing you how horrible the death of a little boy was.”
The family was renting two rooms from Czuba and his wife, who also lived at home. They shared a kitchen and living room with the Czubas.
Shaheen was the first witness Tuesday and recounted the events leading up to the attack. She said they had not had any issues previously in the two years they had rented from the Czubas.
But after the start of the war, Czuba told her 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, she testified in court.
“He told me, ‘You, as a Muslim, must die,’” said Shaheen, who mainly spoke in English but had an Arabic translator to help her in her primary language.
After the attack, Shaheen said, she 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.
The boy — whose name was initially spelled Wadea Al-Fayoume by authorities — was later pronounced dead. Shaheen had more than a dozen stab wounds, and it took her weeks to recover.
A physician's assistant who treated Shaheen, who was checked into the hospital under the pseudonym “Sally Smith” to protect her privacy, testified about her wounds on Wednesday. Shaheen had multiple lacerations, including five to her face. Her recovery took weeks.
The attack, which generated headlines worldwide, has renewed fears 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.
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