Now, I'm no expert of N. nivea by any means, but having seen a number of baby and juvenile cobras, and myself having a pair of juvenile N. nigricollis, which look VERY similar to your pictured snake besides colors, I'd say that the snake in your pictures is indeed a juvenile cobra of some sort, and is most likely a cape. Baby capes, especially when they start to change to adult coloration, can show a wide array of variation, and unfortunately it looks like the one killed was possibly on its way to turning into a stunning yellow adult. What really keyed me into thinking it was indeed an elapid of some sort was the head. Most colubrids don't have that slightly puffy look to the back sides of the head (where the venom glands are). Also, that snake's scalation looks exactly like my little black neck's scalation on the back and toward the neck. If I'm wrong, by all means correct me, but it looks like a juvie cobra of some sort. Just out of curiosity, did the man who killed it say it hooded at all? Capes are known to be pretty aggro and I'd suspect one wouldn't go down too easily without a fight (unless it was, of course, a dead on road animal).

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