Unless one has trained to utilize violence (instantaneously, overwhelmingly) it's difficult to respond effectively to physical threat, and you did well to attempt to "use your words." Unfortunately, a great many people will happily perform all manner of evil when they believe they can act with impunity. Humans are not "naturally good" and observers will almost always do nothing to help someone who is being assaulted. It is therefore useful to acquire the necessary skills and weapons by means of which to destroy one's assailant as quickly as possible when that appears to be your best chance of surviving the encounter. Half-measures will result in you being injured or killed - life is not a stupid Hollywood movie. Only fast overwhelming lethal force works as a defensive act, and not always even then because there are so many variables in a real combat situation. But all of this is not something ordinary nice middle-class people understand, which is why so often the aggressor not only inflicts terrible harm but then suffers no consequences thereafter. And of course the local law will penalize people who seek to defend themselves, but that's another issue entirely.