Teenager testifies in Campbell slay trial

LAGAWE, Ifugao – The murder trial of Juan Donald Duntugan, self-confessed killer of US Peace Corps volunteer Julia Campbell last April, continued here Aug. 22, with the prosecution presenting a 14-year-old boy as a witness.

The boy, Melvin Churbangon, recalled 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 just a few hundred meters below the Duntugan’s house where Campbell was last seen alive sipping soft drink had brought from the suspect’s life.

Judge Esther Piscozo-Flor declined to comment on questions on significance of the boy’s testimony.

On Aug. 20, prosecutors presented Linda Campbell, the victim’s 65-year-old old mother, as their first witness.

Lawyer Reynaldo Agranzamendez, for the prosecution, 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 her family was deeply devastated upon learning of Julia’s Tragic death. The defense team cross-examined her Aug. 21.

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.

Duntugan said Julia allegedly bumped into him while she was on her way back to her rented cottage in Battad village.

He claimed thinking that the person who had bumped him was a neighbor whom he had a grudge, prompting him to hit the person, only to find out later it was Campbell.

Meanwhile, the prosecution rejected on Aug. 21 a plea-bargain offer of the defense in the conviction of the accused for the lower offense of homicide.

Lead prosecution counsel Agrazamendez of the Baguio-based law firm of Agrazamendez, Liceralde, Gallardo and Associates rejected the plea-bargain offer of the defense on behalf of the family of the late Campbell.

Mrs. Campbell, who was present during the hearing, confirmed the family’s rejection of the plea-bargain offer of the defense when she was asked for her opinion by Judge Flor of Regional Trial Court’s Branch 34 at the Justice Hall here.

Had the prosecution accepted the plea bargain offer, the trial would have ended right then and there, and Judge Piscoso-Flor would have pronounced Duntugan guilty of homicide.

The accused would have escaped the maximum penalty of life imprisonment and would have been meted a 20-year imprisonment sentence.

The prosecution had lined up 18 witnesses, including Chorhangon. The defense panel submitted Aug. 21 the names of its six witnesses.

Mrs. Campbell, who lives in Fairfax, Virginia was the first prosecution witness to be called to the witness stand.

Mrs. Campbell narrated the early childhood and schooling of her daughter, her exemplary record as a US peace Corp Volunteer, her love for schoolchildren, and her generosity and dedication to her work.

Mrs. Campbell also described the emotional stresses she suffered during the death of her daughter and the expenses her family incurred during the memorial services and burial of Julia.

Also present during the hearing were Julia’s elder sister Geary and US peace Corps Country Director Karl Beck.

The defense for Duntugan was represented by two Ifugao lawyers, Pedro Mayam-o and Eugene Balitang.

Mayam-o and Balitang were former members of the Ifugao Sangguniang panlalawigan.

The private prosecutors were assisted by the Office of the Ifugao Provincial Prosecutor headed by Joseph Tumapang. – With a report from Juan B. Dair Jr.