Carl Pronti: Eastern suburbs salon manager organises Grindr meetup before attacking victim

A salon manager who invited a victim on Grindr to meet him at the toilets, kicked him in the face before threatening to call the police. Find out why he avoided a conviction.

Carl Pronti appeared at Waverley Local Court on Wednesday, March 22.

A salon manager who, while masturbating in a shopping centre toilet cubicle, kicked the face of a man he had invited to join him via Grindr, has avoided being convicted for his actions.

Carl John Pronti, of Zetland, fronted Waverley Local Court on Wednesday to be sentenced for assault following an earlier plea of guilty.

Agreed facts reveal the 36-year-old was at Westfield Bondi Junction on January 14 when he started a conversation with the victim on Grindr about 2pm, where they exchanged “explicit photographs”. Pronti then wrote “jerking it off in the Myer toilets if keen”.

The victim – who worked at a nearby store – asked for Pronti’s exact location then entered the toilets. Court documents state he saw Pronti “masturbating and on his mobile phone” through the crack of one of the two cubicles.

He entered the stall next to Pronti and was of the belief the man was the person he had been messaging.

Carl Pronti with his lawyer at Waverley Local Court on Wednesday.

When he leaned under the cubicle to “initiate contact” he was kicked in the face by Pronti. Court documents state the victim hit his head on a toilet roll dispenser then said ““what the f**k is your problem, why did you do that?”.

Pronti responded: “I’m alerting security. [Prepare] to be fired”.

Waverley Courthouse. Photo: Damian Shaw

After a short argument the victim left. He received a message from Pronti shortly after, which state “hope the head injury and getting fired is worth being a pathetic little piece of sh**”.

One of the last messages sent by Pronti said “I have taken screenshots of all our previous conversations … I am building a case against you”.

That same day, the victim attended Surry Hills police station and CCTV was later analysed with Pronti and the victim both seen “entering and exiting the toilets”.

Police attended Pronti’s home where he made admissions about being in the rest room, saying he had planned a meet up on Grindr but denied kicking the victim’s face, saying he didn’t know he was going to look under the wall.

Facts say Pronti told police he had shifted his foot towards the victim “as he believed it was an invasion of his privacy”.

Police officers were told the pair had been involved in a similar incident previously, but it was not reported.

Magistrate Ross Hudson said Pronti was currently working as “a part manager or owner of a salon” and handed down an 18-month conditional release order without conviction.