Neville Mansfield, 52, was jailed last year for 16 years with a non-parole period of 12 years after a County Court jury found him guilty of five counts of rape, four of false imprisonment, three of making a threat to kill and one each of indecent assault and aggravated burglary.

But Court of Appeal Justices Peter Buchanan, David Ashley and Paul Coghlan decided to recalculate his total jail sentence after finding the sentences imposed on the rape charges were inadequate but the sentences for the threat to kill charges were excessive.

The three judges dismissed Mansfield's application seeking leave to appeal his conviction but reduced his jail sentence to 14 years with a non-parole period of 11 years.

Justice Buchanan said it was early in the morning of April 7, 1993, when an intruder entered a house in Shepparton. The intruder was heavily disguised, wearing a tea towel over his face.

A 37-year-old mother, her daughter, 11, and son, 6, and a babysitter, 69, were inside the house at the time.

After entering the house, the intruder grabbed the son in a headlock and held a knife to his throat before telling the mother: "Do as you are told or he will be hurt. I will slit his throat."

The mother managed to persuade the intruder to release her son and he then demanded money, which the mother and the babysitter handed over.

The intruder ordered the family and the babysitter into the master bedroom where he told them to sit on the bed together and tell him their names. He then bound and gagged them.

When the babysitter complained about how tightly the intruder had tied her hands together, the intruder told the mother, "Tell grandma to shut up," before asking the babysitter: "What is better, having your hands tied or having your throat slit?"

When the mother pleaded with the intruder not to gag her son, the intruder replied: "Would you rather this or for me to slit his throat?"

The intruder then dragged the mother into the kitchen and ran the knife across her stomach and throat and said: "Feel how sharp it is, I could kill you with this."

The intruder then repeatedly raped the mother. He later washed the mother and the floor afterwards to try to remove traces of his DNA.

Justice Buchanan said that during the police investigation, a sperm fragment containing DNA was recovered and later found to match Mansfield's DNA after his arrest in Queensland on other charges in 2007.

Mansfield wanted to appeal his conviction and sentence, claiming he could not be convicted on the DNA evidence alone, but the judges said there was other evidence proving he was the intruder, including the fact he was seen in Shepparton at the time and he matched the description of the suspect.