Huge amount of evidence in case of alleged drug dealers Tara Harding and Omar El-Nachar, court hears

More than 600 hours of surveillance material must be trawled through in the case of a childcare centre manager allegedly busted with commercial quantities of drugs, a court has heard.

The case of a Top End childcare manager who claims she had no idea about her husband’s alleged drug stash in their bedroom has been delayed as lawyers continue to wade through a “huge amount” of evidence.

Tara Eva Harding, 31, and her partner Omar El-Nachar, 32, faced the Darwin Local Court on Wednesday after police allegedly found a commercial quantity of meth and cocaine at their Palmerston home on July 7.

The cases were adjourned after the court heard there was hundreds of hours of surveillance material to wade through, with defence lawyer Peter Maley requesting a condensed version be provided by prosecutors.

Tara Harding was escorted from Darwin Local Court bundled in a pink sweater by her family after facing commercial quantity drug charges.

“I make the request that the huge amount of material provided by the Crown - I know the police have spent weeks listening to it - if I could just be provided with the relevant bits and not just a hard drive with 600 hours,” Mr Maley said.

“With CCTV, there are multiple warrants - phones, houses, cars - so the relevant electronic surveillance material ... it’ll have to be one of the senior prosecutors to come walk the court through it, it’ll be a complicated matter.”

Prosecutor Chris Cooper told the court “there could be even more evidence” on the way.

Rather than commit prosecutors to decide what evidence was “relevant” at an early stage, Judge Thomasin Opie ordered for an index of the recordings to be provided.

Both Harding and El-Nachar were charged with six drug offences, supplying and possessing a commercial quantity of drugs, possessing items to administer drugs, and possessing property in the commission of an offence.

Mr Maley previously told the court that while El-Nachar was likely to make a negotiated guilty plea, his wife would be fighting the allegations against her.

He said Harding claimed she did not know the drugs were stashed in a safe in their shared walk-in wardrobe.

She remains on bail and the pair will return to court on November 15.

Originally published as Huge amount of evidence in case of alleged drug dealers Tara Harding and Omar El-Nachar, court hears