LAGAWE, Ifugao – The murder trial of Juan Donald Duntugan, self-confessed killer of US Peace Corps volunteer Julia Campbell last April, continued here yesterday with the prosecution presenting a 14-year-old boy as a witness.
The boy, Melvin Churbangon, recalled that he saw Duntugan running uphill in Ballitang, Batad, Banaue, Ifugao, just a few meters from where the 40-year-old Campbell was slain, shortly after the incident.
Churbangon, who was one of the boys helping tourists go around the place, said he was playing cards with his friends when he saw Duntugan fleeing the place where Campbell’s body was later found in a shallow grave.
The grave was just a few hundred meters below the Duntungans’ house where Campbell was last seen alive sipping softdrink she had bought from the suspect’s wife.
Judge Esther Piscozo-Flor declined to comment on questions as to the significance of the boy’s testimony.
The other day, prosecutors presented Linda Campbell, the victim’s 65-year-old mother, as their first witness.
Lawyer Reynaldo Agranzamendez said Mrs. Campbell talked about how hurt she was upon learning of her daughter’s killing and how her daughter was a loving, responsible and God-fearing person.
Mrs. Campbell, who came all the way from Fairfax, Virginia with her eldest daughter, Geary, said their family was deeply devastated upon learning of Julia’s tragic death. The defense team cross-examined her yesterday.
Flor scheduled the next hearing on Oct. 8-9.
It was almost three weeks after Julia’s body was found when the 25-year-old Duntugan surrendered to authorities and owned up to the crime.
Duntungan said Julia allegedly bumped into him while she was on her way back to her rented cottage in Batad village.
He claimed thinking that the person who had bumped him was a neighbor with whom he had a grudge, prompting him to hit the person, only to find out later that it was Campbell.
Meanwhile, court sources said Duntugan’s lawyers have offered a plea bargain for the lesser offense of homicide, which under the Revised Penal Code carries a maximum penalty of 20 years’ imprisonment.