Driver who left boy in car.
Driver who left boy in car.Israel news photo: Flash 90

The funeral of four-year-old Hanoch Boimel, who died Thursday after being forgotten inside a car in the searing summer heat, took place Thursday.

The boy's father apologized to his dead son at the funeral: "I do not know what to say in a situation like this. I have nothing to say except to ask your forgiveness," he said.

"Maybe I was too tough with you sometimes and you didn’t deserve it? Maybe I slapped you for no good reason, but G-d, a slap like the one you have given me, I never gave the boy. Maybe I deserve it, but my wife? She is a truly righteous woman, so why have you hurt her so much?"

The car's driver, Nachman Shtitzer, 22 (in the photo), was released to house arrest Friday and will probably face charges for causing death through negligence and illegally transporting children for money. He is a teacher in the Torah school that the boy attended. He apparently used to drive children to the school in his car, and offered to take the 4-year-old to school that day, but forgot to check that no child was left in the car when he got out. The boy had fallen asleep in the back seat.