Can a Judge be disqualified from presiding over a case in court?

The Office of the Director of Public Prosecutions has been accused of 'blatant judge-shopping' after seeking that a District Court Judge recuse himself from presiding over a sentence proceeding involving two co-accused young persons.

The recusal application concerned District Court Judge Sean Grant. The co-offenders are AF, JT, and BP (referred to under initials as the offences occurred when they were under 18, namely 15 years old).

The co-accused and the victim in the matters were all residential boarding students at a regional High School, living together in a dormitory.

The allegations regarding the co-offenders involved aggravated sexual assault in which JT inserted a lock into the victim's anus, on BP's instruction, as AF assisted in holding him down.