A picture of Michael Bird last October after he was found guilty of sexual assault. (Image Credit: Nigel Maxwell/ paNOW Staff)

By Nigel Maxwell

Court proceedings

Prince Albert sexual assault results in three-year sentence

Feb 24, 2026 | 12:26 PM

The man charged with the murder of Trevor LaPlante, has received a three-year prison sentence for a sexual assault that occurred about three weeks prior to the death of the well respected local resident.

Michael Robert Bird, 34, appeared Tuesday morning at Court of King’s Bench in Prince Albert.

With remand credit, he has roughly 221 days left to serve and will then be subject to a lifetime weapons ban. He’ll also be on the national sex offender registry for 20 years.

The offence occurred July 1, 2024, and after a short trial, Bird was convicted last October.

As per testimony heard during trial, a group of people gathered at a Prince Albert residence were drinking heavily and consuming cocaine.

Crime

Over a dozen charges laid after car jacking in Northern Saskatchewan

56m ago

Court proceedings

Prince Albert sexual assault results in three-year sentence

1h ago

Drive Away Hunger

Farm Credit Canada fights food insecurity with campaign

2h ago

The female victim passed out on a bed and awoke to find Bird on top of her performing sexual intercourse.

Bird, who admitted to consuming meth every day for three weeks and not sleeping for a week, was highly intoxicated on alcohol and cocaine, and claimed to have no memory of the rape.

Crown prosecutor Kristen Hubbard was seeking a 3.5 year prison sentence, while defence lawyer Evan Strelioff argued for a sentence of 28 months.

While Bird has 35 prior convictions on his criminal record, including five for violence related offences, he has no prior history of sex-related crimes.

Regardless of Tuesday’s sentencing decision from Justice Labach, Bird won’t be going anywhere as he will still be on remand for the murder charge.

However if convicted of that charge, he will have less remand credit to fall back on.

And while that matter has also been committed to Court of King’s Bench, trial dates have not yet been set. The next pre-trial conference hearing is scheduled for Feb. 27.

—

nigel.maxwell@pattisonmedia.com

On X: @nigelmaxwell