A three-time sex offender, who is now accused of raping a 79-year-old Huntsville woman, has asked an Alabama judge to order he be castrated.

Stephen Gordon Bunyard has multiple sex offense convictions dating back to the 1980s, according to Alabama Law Enforcement Agency records. Now, he’s charged with first-degree rape and failure to register as a sex offender, court records show. Bunyard also is known by two aliases: Melvin Knight and Kevin Neil Means, records show.

Bunyard, 56, was in court today to be sentenced on a probation violation. Through his lawyer, Bunyard asked the judge to issue a lighter sentence in exchange for an order that he be castrated.

“I certainly don’t have the authority to order castration,” said Madison County Circuit Judge James Smith.

Alabama doesn’t have a law on the books that allows judges to sentence convicts to undergo castration. As recently as 2016, state Rep. Steve Hurst has filed legislation that would require anyone convicted of sexually assaulting a child to be surgically castrated before being released from prison. The legislation didn’t gain enough support to become state law. Some states allow sex offenders to opt for castration, according to ABC News.

Smith instead ordered Bunyard to 30 years in prison for violating the terms of his probation in a 2007 sex crime conviction.

In the 2007 case, Bunyard was convicted of sodomizing a senior citizen in Madison County, according to court documents. He also was accused of kidnapping and robbing the woman while armed with a screwdriver, records show. After pleading guilty to sodomy and robbery, he was sentenced in 2008 to 20 years on each charge. The sentences were split for Bunyard to serve five years in prison and another five on probation for each charge. He received one year of jail credit for time served awaiting trial.

Bunyard was released from prison in July 2017.

The convict violated probation when he was arrested and convicted of DUI in Tennessee earlier this year, authorities said. He admitted that violation today in court.

Bunyard also was accused of violating probation by committing the alleged rape in Huntsville earlier this year. Bunyard denies that charge.

“I deny that I’m guilty of that,” said Bunyard, who stood in the courtroom, clad in an orange jail jumpsuit with shackles on his wrists and ankles.

Huntsville police Lt. Michael Johnson said Bunyard is accused of raping the 79-year-old victim at her home in April 2018.

“He befriended the elderly victim who had provided him past assistance with food and work on her property,” Johnson said.

Madison County Assistant District Attorney Tim Douthit said Bunyard misled the woman about his identity by using the alias Melvin Knight.

Bunyard made the woman swear on a Bible that she wouldn’t tell anyone about the rape, court records state.

Stephen Bunyard is held in the Madison County jail pending his transport to prison.

“This is one of the most heinous offenses I’ve seen in my time as a sex crimes prosecutor,” Douthit said.

Huntsville police got a warrant for Bunyard’s arrest on the rape charge on April 30. But the next day Bunyard left town in a stolen vehicle, according to court records.

Bunyard was arrested in Franklin County, Tennessee on May 2, court documents say. He was charged with driving under the influence, evading arrest and theft of property. Bunyard was driving a truck that had been reported stolen in Huntsville on May 1, records say. In Tennessee, Bunyard pleaded guilty to DUI, and the other charges were dropped.

Law enforcement records show Bunyard has been convicted in two other sex crimes cases in Texas. In 1984, he was convicted of sexually assaulting a senior citizen, records show. In 1993, Bunyard was convicted of indecency with a 14-year-old girl, according to his sex offender registry entry.

As for Bunyard’s castration request, defense attorney Larry Marsili said he’s never had a client who sought such punishment.

“Even though it was an unusual request, my client seems well aware of what he was asking for,” said Marsili, who previously requested a mental evaluation of Bunyard. The judge denied that request.

Douthit said he’s never had a case in which the defendant asked for castration.

“I’ve been prosecuting sex crimes for a while, and this is a new one on me,” Douthit said.