Perth, Western Australia February 10, 2007 Home News Time Out Letters Write a Letter Classifieds Search Real Estate Trades & Services Submit About Contact Us Advertising Legal	Burnt artist facing ruin Drewfus and Chelinay Gates with Drewfus's latest portrait of a Buddhist cleaner, called Sleeping Dragon, which he is entering into the Doug Moran portrait award. Almost six years after being critically burnt, artist Drewfus Gates is facing financial ruin. In 2001, Mr Gates was caught in a spinifex fire while painting near the Patjarr community, 300km north of Warburton. His face, body and right painting hand were severely burnt and he had four fingers amputated on his left hand and several toes. Since then, he and his wife, Chelinay, have been fighting the legal system over their claim against the administrator of the Patjarr community for an insurance payout. The couple are faced with a $1.6 million debt and the possibility of the bank foreclosing on their hefty mortgages. The Gates have just engaged their seventh lawyer in the battle for compensation, which has cost them almost everything. Their sixth lawyer, insurance specialist Martin Bennett, joined lawyers from Phillips Fox to form a new company, Lavan Legal. This new company then faced a conflict of interest because one of its clients was the insurance company the Gates were fighting. When a judge ruled that there was a conflict of interest, the Gates were required to pay all the court costs. Mr Gates (55) said it was only because they had equity in their Darlington property that they had tried originally to lodge the insurance claim. After five years, they now face having to sell two Darlington properties, the family home with Mr Gates' studio and Chelinay's Chinese medicine clinic and the next door property, which sits on almost 0.8ha and has been run as a retreat. They bought a small home in Midland, but delayed paperwork allowed the mortgage insurers to pull out of their existing loan and the loan for the new property before settlement. "We're in a perilous situation," said a tearful Chelinay. "It's broken us." They hope that someone will buy the Darlington properties and Mr Gates is pinning his hopes on a new portrait that he is submitting to the Doug Moran portrait award, the world's richest portrait competition, with $100,000 in prize money. A renowned portrait artist whose subjects have included WA's chief justices and many of its judges, Mr Gates was a finalist in last year's Doug Moran competition, but he has never won the award. Next week, he returns to hospital for more operations to release the constricting scar tissue on his hands.   Do you have something to say? Write to us and we may publish your letter next week. BACK TO TOP < PREVIOUS - HOME - NEXT> Copyright © 1999 - 2008 Post Newspapers Pty Ltd. All rights reserved.