fleaman,
There is no way on earth that the Witnesses i know or knew,would allow a known Paedophile to go un-reported and to be free to be around Kids.It wouldnot happen.That means the Elders too.
Actually, it does happen, and more often than you might think. Although I would agree with your general assertion that most JWs, including elders, abhor child abuse. However elders do have to follow Society rules. Consider the following scenario: an adult sister approaches an elder and tells him as a child she was abused by her JW father (or any other male JW).
The elder tells her he must phone Legal for advice. They tell him the sister has to approach the alleged abuser, along with the elder for support if she wishes, in line with Matthew 18:15-17. If she refuses, even if out of embarrasment or fear, the elder is told they can do nothing more. He is told to call back to let them know what happens.
The elder speaks to the sister. As expected, she is terrified at the prospect of confronting her abuser and refuses. She tells the elder she only told him of the abuse because she needs spiritual help and encouragement.
The elder calls back to Legal and tells them the sister won't speak to the alleged abuser. He is asked if there are any other witnesses to the alleged abuse. He says no, not that he knows of. He is asked are there any other allegations of abuse against this brother. He reples no, not that he knows of. He is told that there is nothing they can do, as there is only a single witness. He is also told to write a full report and send it to Legal so they have a record of the allegations.
That is a typical scenario, and it happens regularly. (I've no reason to doubt the figures Uzzah suggested of around one case per week in Canada and the UK, and around ten per week in the US.)
So the situation thus far is that the alleged abuser is known to the elders, or at least the PO and one other elder, but they are not allowed to do anything.
The real problem comes when you realise that abusers cannot be 'cured': they rarely, if ever, abuse only a single child. (NB: does anyone know actual statistics? How many children does the average abuser molest? I looked to see if there were any authoritative figures, but couldn't find any...)
Therefore, each abuser has probably already molested another, say, 10 or 20 or 50 children. And will continue abusing yet more children. It's just that none of the others has yet had the courage to tell anyone about it.
However, in spite of this clear danger, and of knowing of the presence of the alleged abuser within their midst, the elders continue to do nothing about him, under the specific instructions of the WT Legal Department. There is nothing to stop the alleged abuser associating with children (in or out of the congregation), being trusted by the rest of the congregation and pehaps babysitting for other families: goodness knows what happens when he comes across a young child home alone while out in field service...
To rub salt into the wound, if the sister who was abused confides in a couple of her friends in the congregation and this leaks out, then the sister herself could be disfellowshipped for slander or for causing divisions.
Regards,
Ken