Joseph Czuba Ex-Wife testifies in Unincorp. Plainfield Stabbing, hate crime trial, says the behavior changed after Hamas attack

Joliet, Ill. (WLS) – Within a Will County Chamber on Wednesday, the ex -wife of a man accused of murder testified for the Prosecutor’s Office.

Mary Conner, previously Mary Czuba, took the witness position on Wednesday night.

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She told the jury that she and her ex -husband had a good relationship with her tenants, but Joseph Czuba was not acting as normal days before the attack.

Czuba is in trial for Murdering, murder attempt and hate crimes.

The prosecutors argue that he stabbed the mother and the son who had been renting two rooms at his home in Plainfield not incorporated, killing the child, Wadoee Alfayoumi, 6 years old.

Conner testified that Czuba reacted strongly when Hamas attacked Israel.

“He said: ‘Hanan needs to move because his friends could come and harm us,” said Conner. “He felt that our lives could be in danger, and I refuted it.”

On Tuesday, Alfayoumi’s mother, Hanan Shaheen, testified She and her son lived in the house with the Czubas for two years peacefully.

But, on October 14, 2023, Czuba supposedly made antiislamic comments, while attacked her and her son.

Also on Wednesday, Sheriff agents testified about the meeting with CZUBA that day.

The Bodycams video of the deputies shows CZUBA out of the house on the ground. It was described as covered with blood and sweating profusely.

A paramedic and doctor of the emergency room testified about seeing Alfayoumi with a knife in the stomach. It was covered with many cuts and blood, without a pulse.

They told the jury about the efforts to save the child in vain.

Prosecutors previously said to the jury that the 6 -year -old had been stabbed 26 times.

And the investigator of the Will County Crime scene, Andre Carter, testified about the evidence he collected, including a 12 -inch knife, with a 7 -inch blade, which was taken from the child’s body.

Czuba has declared himself innocent.

The trial is expected to last a week.