‘I didn’t know what it was,’ father tells court

Murder trial jury hears of horrific discovery of daughter’s body

Warning: This story contains details readers may find disturbing.

Victoria Selby-readman had told her father she was working on a horror story script.

When her father entered her apartment looking for the 28year-old after she failed to reply to his texts and calls for days, he first thought the stiff, discoloured figure wrapped in blankets and leaning against the wall was a mannequin or grotesque prop for her tale.

“There was this horrible looking head. It frightened me. I didn’t know what it was,” Gary Readman testified.

He tried to pull the “mask” off and unzip what he then thought was a costume bodysuit before he realized it was a human body.

It was only when he saw his daughter’s shoes nearby and held one against her foot that he grasped whose it was.

“I called 911. At this point I’m aware that it’s my daughter so I hugged her and held her,” he said.

Richard Isaac, 43, has pleaded not guilty to the second-degree murder of Selby-readman. The Crown alleges Isaac was Selbyreadman’s roommate, who had moved into her downtown apartment just weeks before he killed her on June 8, 2018. Readman discovered his daughter’s body four days later.

The jury has heard that, according to an agreed statement of facts, Isaac was wanted by Durham Regional Police at the time for criminally harassing and threatening his former domestic partner. He has since pleaded guilty to criminal harassment, mischief under $5,000 and failing to comply with a probation order.

On Tuesday, the jury was shown text messages between Readman and his daughter — though Readman does not believe all the text messages were sent by her.

At 5:06 p.m. on Friday, June 8, 2018, Selby-readman texted her father: “My room mate is drunk again. Can you come over. I need support.” Readman texted her back while on his way to work, using the nickname “bb” to mean best buddies: “Working now bb just go out and leave him.”

These are the last texts Readman believes his daughter sent him, though he got replies to his follow-up texts the next day.

“How are you today?” he asked at 4 p.m. on Saturday.

“Good actually,” came the response. “He’s taking me out to supper. I asked him not to drink any more and he agreed with me.”

“Good. Sometimes best to be patient,” Readman texted back.

“He’s a nice guy. I just hate seeing him drink over his ex,” the reply text said. “Yes agreed,” Readman said. “She’s not worth it and he’s only hurting himself,” came the response. “When he’s sober he’s so kind and thoughtful. This week he brought me home flowers. He said that he saw them and thought of me and that the place needed some brightening up. Okay gonna get ready to go out supper.”

Readman testified that he found the texts a little odd at the time. The language used was unusual for his daughter. She didn’t use the word supper and the flowers seemed strange.

The trial continues Wednesday.