Plainfield Mom Speaks Out After Stabbing, Son's Death: 'She Harbors No Hatred'

PLAINFIELD, IL — Hanan Shaheen, the mother of 6-year-old Wadee Alfayoumi, spoke out for the first time since the stabbing that killed her son and hospitalized her in serious condition Oct. 14.

The Council on American-Islamic Relations, known as CAIR for short, published a news release Tuesday after Executive Director Ahmed Rehab, of its Chicago office, met with the 32-year-old Palestinian woman for the first time and "promised to convey" a short reflection as an update.

The release noted Shaheen is not ready to meet with people and wishes to focus on her recovery.

"I asked her if she had a direct public statement she would like me to convey," Rehab wrote, "and she only had this to say, with sad eyes that betrayed that polite, weary smile that hardly parted her stitched face: 'Just... Pray for Peace.'"

Rehab relayed that he spent most of their time together listening to her recount "stories of how smart and funny her boy was, and how he cared for the planet and always liked to join her in prayer."

"He was my best friend," Shaheen said, per Rehab.

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Shaheen was discharged from the hospital Oct. 19 and is "recovering nicely," Deputy Chief Dan Jungles, with the Will County Sheriff's Office, told Patch Monday.

In his letter Tuesday, Rehab said he was "astonished by her mental health and composure" and credited her profession as a caregiver to senior citizens as the reason for her giving personality and calm demeanor.

"She is fully functional but tired," he wrote. "She said that her doctors were stunned by the speed of her recovery despite the brutality of the attack, and that she credits that to 'God hearing the prayers of people out there.'"

While in the hospital, she asked doctors to check on Mary Czuba, the wife of Joseph Czuba, the 71-year-old landlord who police say stabbed Shaheen more than a dozen times and her son 26 times, killing him. Authorities called it a religiously motivated hate crime due to the family's Muslim faith.

Joseph Czuba is facing eight felony charges, including first-degree murder, attempted murder, aggravated battery and two hate crimes. Two days after the stabbing, Will County Judge Donald DeWilkins ruled to detain the Plainfield man at the Will County jail, where he awaits his next court date Oct. 30.

Despite the brutality of the attacks, Rehab wrote Shaheen said, "She harbors no hatred, but believes in the pursuit of justice."

"She said that she accepts that God chose them for this test — and that she finds solace in 'remembering [Wadee] as an angel on earth, and knowing that he is now an angel in heaven,'" the letter reads.

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