A Filipino woodcarver was convicted Monday of killing a U.S. Peace Corps volunteer who disappeared while hiking solo in the northern Philippines' famed mountainside rice terraces.
Juan Duntugan wept after a regional trial court in northern Ifugao province found him guilty of murdering Julia Campbell in April 2007. He was sentenced to 40 years in prison without parole.
Judge Ester Piscoso-Flor also ordered Duntugan, 27, to pay Campbell's family about $889,000 in damages, including her funeral expenses. Duntugan, who could appeal, was to be moved to a maximum-security prison complex in Manila, court officials said.
The judge said she could not impose the death penalty because it has been banned in the country.
"This is justice for Julia," prosecutor Reynaldo Agranzamendez told The Associated Press by telephone from Ifugao, about 160 miles north of Manila. "But justice can only compensate, it cannot bring her back to life."
An elder sister of Campbell and her American friends embraced each other quietly after hearing the ruling. Duntugan, accompanied by his mother, bowed his head and wept, court officials said.
Campbell disappeared during a hike to Ifugao's scenic mountainside rice terraces. She was found buried in a shallow grave.
Duntugan later surrendered and admitted he bludgeoned the 40-year-old Campbell with a rock and a stick in a fit of rage when she accidentally bumped into him on a narrow mountain trail. Duntugan said he was upset from an argument with a neighbor.
Source: Xinhua/Agencies
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