Justice In Lalla Land

Could evaporation of sex case against St Alban’s teacher have anything to do with his father’s well-placed connections?

- Jack Lundin

ATORRID MYSTERY HANGS LIKE the Sword of Damocles over swanky St Alban’s College, the expensive diocesan school for boys in Pretoria’s Lynnwood Glen, following the abrupt departure more than two years ago of sports teacher and trusted boarding house aide Sasha Lalla.

Lalla is the son of LieutenantGeneral Raymond Lalla, former police crime intelligence chief and divisional commissioner, detective services. At the time he held – and still holds – a senior position in the SA Revenue Service.

Sasha Lalla, a popular teacher and water polo coach at St Alban’s, resigned abruptly in November 2015 and in a newsletter the then headmaster Tom Hamilton told parents that an unnamed male teacher had been interviewed following allegations of a sexual nature. “The staff member confirmed there was truth to the allegations and he subsequently resigned from his position,” wrote Hamilton.

Although police were informed, the identity of the teacher and his powerful family connections were kept secret. Bishop Jo Seoka, then chairman of the school’s Foundation board of trustees, was told only that the teacher’s father was a “well-known person”. Two months later Noseweek named Sasha Lalla (nose195) and told how video surveillance cameras caught the teacher making nocturnal visits to a dormitory in MacRobert boarding house. Two boys required counselling after complaining that the night-time prowler had abused them.

In a media statement Hamilton said that allegations of inappropriate behaviour by a staff member had been reported to police and that no further comment would be offered.