Joseph Czuba was the family’s landlord and the attack took place a week after the start of the Israel-Hamas war in Oct 2023.

Wadea Al-Fayoume was stabbed 26 times and a serrated military knife with a 15cm blade was removed from the child’s abdomen during the autopsy.

Hanaan Shaheen, Wadea’s mother, and Czuba’s now ex-wife, Mary, testified that he targeted the Muslim family after becoming agitated about the conflict in Gaza, media reported.

A jury deliberated for just over an hour before finding Czuba guilty of first-degree murder, attempted murder and two counts of a hate crime.

Judge Amy Bertani-Tomczak sentenced Czuba to 30 years in prison for Wadea’s murder, 20 years for the attack on his mother and three years for the hate crimes, to be served consecutively, the Chicago Sun Times reported.

During sentencing, the boy’s great-uncle Mahmoud Yousef asked Czuba why he did it but received no response, the newspaper said.

“We want to know what made him do this,” Yousef told the judge.

According to the Will County sheriff’s office, the victims were targeted “due to them being Muslim and the ongoing Middle Eastern conflict involving Hamas and the Israelis.”

Joe Biden, then the US president, condemned the attack as a “horrific act of hate” that “has no place in America.”