Seven to eight – “Is this a special social case program this evening?”, “Why put this woman in the spotlight, in the name of what?” : the interview with Hélène Trinidad, the “robber mother”, scandalizes viewers

The show “Sept à quatre” offered a varied program this Sunday evening, between social investigations and intimate portraits. Viewers discovered several news reports that question new consumer trends and contemporary social phenomena. The magazine presented by Harry Roselmack looked in particular at the dazzling success of new fast-food restaurants through a report which analyzes the growing enthusiasm of the French for these brands which offer hearty meals at knockdown prices. The show also explored the hidden side of Shein, this Chinese ultra fast-fashion brand which has just opened its first physical store at BHV in Paris. Another strong subject marked the evening with “Proto Alert!”, an alarming report on the ravages of nitrous oxide, this legal drug which is increasingly worrying health authorities after several serious incidents, including the tragic death of Mathis, a 19-year-old young man. On a lighter note, “Sept à quatre” followed the highly anticipated return of Lorie Pester, French pop icon of the 2000s, who is making her comeback on stage after fifteen years of absence. The singer gave a touching testimony on the reasons for this return and on her tour which delights her nostalgic fans. Finally, the show paid tribute to traditional broths, these establishments which bring local recipes and regional French dishes up to date.

The Amazon Gang: seven robberies to feed children

But it was the portrait of the week that particularly caught the attention and crystallized the reactions. Audrey Crespo-Mara received Hélène Trinidad, former figure of the “Gang des Amazones”, a group of five young women who marked French legal history at the turn of the 1990s. At the time, these childhood friends, all aged around twenty, lived in a very precarious situation in Isle-sur-la-Sorgue, in Vaucluse. Faced with insurmountable financial difficulties and the urgency of feeding their children, they decide to organize a series of robberies in bank branches in the region. In total, the gang committed seven hold-ups between 1989 and 1990, stealing around 330,000 francs, or nearly 76,000 euros. Their method is unusual: they use unloaded weapons, disguise themselves as men and favor speed. As Hélène Trinidad explains in the show, “it lasts two to three minutes” and she specifies: “I don’t speak much because I have a Marseille accent”, for fear of being easily recognized. On February 15, 1990, the group robbed a bank and took 24,000 francs. Eleven days later, they did it again in the same establishment and left with 73,000 francs. Their first operation in Isle-sur-la-Sorgue had brought them 116,000 francs, a sum which had upset the young mother: “It seemed like an exorbitant sum and I wanted to go shopping quickly with my children”. These hold-ups are not motivated by greed or a taste for risk but by a vital necessity. The stolen money is immediately spent on food shopping and families’ daily needs.

“Seeing my children smile, it was wonderful”

During the interview broadcast this evening, Hélène Trinidad returned to the social and family context which pushed her to cross this red line. It all starts after receiving a reminder from CAF. The financial problems then follow one another in a dizzying manner and the young mother gradually considers the idea of ​​a robbery as a last resort. “Seeing my children smile, not calculating the price of anything, it was wonderful,” she confides with emotion. This sentence sums up the complexity of his journey: between the awareness of having transgressed the law and the satisfaction of having been able, temporarily, to offer a decent life to his family. The adventure of the Amazon Gang ended during an eighth attempt, in 1991, after a fourteen-month break. The police arrest them following a botched burglary at the former employer of one of the members of the group. In police custody, Hélène, Laurence and Fatija recognize the facts and evoke the female solidarity that united them in this period of absolute distress. The five women were placed in pre-trial detention then tried at the Carpentras assizes in 1996. In the meantime, they began exemplary social reintegration, which will be taken into account by the courts. They receive short suspended sentences, with the exception of one of them who is serving one year in prison. Today, they have all rebuilt their lives away from the spotlight. The story of these women returns to the forefront with the release of the film “Le Gang des Amazones” on November 12, in which Izïa Higelin plays the role of Hélène Trinidad.

On X, the portrait of Hélène Trinidad immediately triggered a wave of outraged reactions. Many Internet users have expressed their incomprehension at TF1’s choice to devote a portrait to a person who committed criminal acts. “Is this a special social case program this evening?” asks a viewer, summarizing the astonishment of part of the public. Another Internet user goes further: “Why put this woman in the spotlight, in the name of what? Afterwards we are surprised that society is more and more violent, plus it makes her smile, the world is turning upside down.” Others denounce what they see as an attempt to portray a criminal as a sympathetic figure. “We’re trying to make a criminal look like someone nice,” says one Internet user, while another adds: “What a shame. And now, copyright on a film that will surely suck their socks off, surely a book, etc… in short. What a shame.”