Photo: A Texas missionary admits molesting eight children at an orphanage in Malawi

A 66-year-old Texas missionary has admitted molesting eight children at an orphanage in Malawi, the US Justice Department says. Gerald Campbell used his position as general manager of the home to lure his victims into his accommodation and assault them.

He pleaded guilty on Wednesday, May 18 in a Texas magistrate's court to one count of engaging in illicit sexual conduct in a foreign place. Campbell admitted engaging in sexual acts with eight minors between 1997 and 2009 in the southern African country.

All the victims were orphans living at the Victory Christian Children's Home. One boy was suffering from HIV. Campbell admitted he knew what he was doing was wrong, but he thought nobody would believe the victims if they reported the abuse.

He also acknowledged to the authorities he sent money to some of the minors in an attempt to buy their silence.

Campbell was a member of Grace Fellowship Church in Odessa, which had ties with the children's home.

US Homeland Security agents began investigating him in June 2014 after receiving a tip-off. One boy told investigators he went to the orphanage in 1999 after losing both of his parents. He said Campbell abused him, sometimes on a nightly basis, over eight months.

Source: Sky News